Ita

I am the first to admit that I knew almost nothing about Ita Buttrose before listening to this podcast. I kind of dismissed her as "the Women's Weekly" editor, always looking perfectly vacuous with her blow-dryed bob, perfect manicure and chiselled eyebrows. Truth be told I dismissed her as an airhead with nothing of any import to say except, perhaps, for how to make a delicious meal for less than $10 and the best way to get grass stains out of clothes. Had I actually stopped to think about it, I might have guessed that a woman who managed to successfully swim to the top of the Australian media fishbowl in the 70s might have had a thing of two to say about women in media and the role that the Australian media is currently playing in belittling our current Prime Minister*.  She also has a lot to say about the failure of women to progress beyond talking about the issues she was writing about in the 70s; equal pay, flexibility in the workforce and that not-so-mythical mythical glass ceiling. By the end of the podcast I wanted to read her book and there was just a little bit of me that wanted to be just like her. Passionate, feisty, ambitious and nice.  

*For the record, Ita has fairly strong views on who should be able to comment hair colour, bottom size and choice of shoe - funnily enough it's not the media, nor is it a stranger and probably not even a friend. Because personal attacks like this aren't nice and above all Ita is nice.