Women are the most over-qualified

Editor's note

Canadian physicist Donna Strickland added a Nobel Prize to her CV before she applied for a promotion. RMIT economist Leonora Risse wanted to know if there was any statistical evidence that women generally need higher credentials than men to be promoted at work. Her research calculates that, compared to those who scale the career ladder the easiest, most of us have “over-invested” in the skills and capabilities needed to perform our jobs. But while men over-invest by up to 4%, women over-invest by up to 11%.

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Tim Wallace

Deputy Editor: Business + Economy

Top story

Existing evidence points to women’s greater accumulation of credentials being due to implicit biases woven throughout workplace dynamics. Shutterstock

The gender qualification gap: women ‘over-invest’ in workplace capabilities

Leonora Risse, RMIT University

Women have up to one-and-a-half year's extra education, and nearly a full year's extra workforce experience, than required for their job.

Politics + Society

As tensions ratchet up between China and the US, Australia risks being caught in the crossfire

Tony Walker, La Trobe University

As relations between Washington and Beijing take a turn for the worse, the announcement of a new naval base on Manus Island carries great strategic significance.
Women targeted with $109 million to promote “economic security”

Michelle Grattan, University of Canberra

The O'Dwyer statement has an eye to areas where Labor has been taking the running. One focal point is seeking to improve the capacity of victims of domestic violence to rebuild their lives.
View from The Hill: What about a Jerusalem consulate as a Morrison escape hatch?

Michelle Grattan, University of Canberra

Ministers scrapping publicly over whether our embassy should be relocated is adding to the perception of government disunity and fanning the friction the issue has already caused with our neighbours.
Politics with Michelle Grattan: Lowy Institute’s Jonathan Pryke on APEC 2018

Michelle Grattan, University of Canberra

Pryke told The Conversation "the desire for a convergence of China into the international liberal order seems like a bit of a fantasy now.”
After APEC, US-China tensions leave ‘cooperation’ in the cold

Nick Bisley, La Trobe University

Summit season is usually a bit of a bore - worthy subjects lost in acronyms and diplomatic niceties. Not so this year as US-China tensions tore at the fabric of multi-lateralism.
One year on from Royal Commission findings on Northern Territory child detention: what has changed?

Kate Fitz-Gibbon, Monash University; Faith Gordon, Monash University

One year after the Royal Commission into Northern Territory child detention recommended big changes, little of substance has been done to tackle the problem by the NT Labor government.

Business + Economy
Toppling bankers can be satisfying, but it’s not enough to heal a sick culture Mathew Donald, Charles Sturt University There's symbolic power in heads rolling when an organisations does wrong. But cultural change is more complicated than that.

Cities
Insurance is unaffordable for some, but it’s middle Australia that is underinsured Kate Isabel Booth, University of Tasmania; Chloe Lucas, University of Tasmania The differences between owners and the growing number of renters, and between rural and urban areas, point to explanations other than affordability for the one-in-two Australians who are underinsured.

Arts + Culture

Guide to the classics: Euripides’ Medea and her terrible revenge against the patriarchy

Paul Salmond, La Trobe University

Euripides’ dismissal by some as a misogynist sits uncomfortably alongside his complex and sympathetic female characters.
Rock Bang is a highly charged fusion of music, theatre, and circus

Mandy Stefanakis, Deakin University

A new show pairs the acrobatic skills of Circus Oz with the local comedians Die Roten Punkte.

Health + Medicine

Infrared sauna is no better for your health than traditional sauna: busting a common wellness myth

Jack Tsonis, Western Sydney University

Traditional sauna is just as good for you as infrared sauna, and might be more enjoyable. They key is understanding the differences and finding your own preference.
Health Check: why women get PMS and why some are more affected

Jayashri Kulkarni, Monash University

Studies show oestrogen protects against depression and psychotic symptoms. So falls in the hormone, as happens before menstruation, can lead to depressive and other symptoms of mental illness.

Science + Technology

Your riding position can give you an advantage in a road cycling sprint

Paul Franciscus Johannes Merkes, Edith Cowan University; Chris Abbiss, Edith Cowan University

Most long distance road cycling events are won or lost in the final sprint of any race stage. Here's one tip that could give you an extra 5kph advantage.
Curious Kids: How do remote controls work?

Andrew Maxwell, University of Southern Queensland

Even the Voyager spacecraft are controlled remotely, 20 billion kilometres away. It takes 20 hours for instructions to travel from Earth to the spacecraft but we can do it -- using a remote.