This year has seen some soaring highs and shattering lows for women. On the global stage, Kamala Harris and Jacinda Ardern had historic electoral wins. Closer to home, Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk emerged as the most successful female politician in Australian political history. But COVID-19 also hit women’s work, study and home lives hard. And the Morrison government’s policy responses didn’t adequately make up for this.

Instead, as gender politics scholar Dr Chris Wallace writes, the Coalition “discounted and disadvantaged women across the board”. According to Wallace, 2020 has been “both a remarkably good and remarkably bad year for Australian women.”

Judith Ireland

Deputy Editor, Politics + Society

AAP (various)/The Conversation

Victory, history and a pink recession: the highs and lows for women in 2020

Chris Wallace, University of Canberra

Women's leadership reached new heights this year, just as the Coalition's gendered policy response to the pandemic set women back across the board.

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New Zealand’s 2020 report card: doing well but could try harder

Alexander Gillespie, University of Waikato

New Zealand scores well against other countries — especially over its handling of the pandemic — but there are still areas that need improving.

Andy Hay/Unsplash

From curried wombat to rendang and doro wat: a brief history of curry in Australia

Frieda Moran, University of Tasmania

Originally made with curry powders imported by British colonialists, Australia's understanding of curry has come a long way.

Shutterstock

Here’s why you’re checking work emails on holidays (and how to stop)

Dan Caprar, University of Sydney; Ben Walker, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington

Our work is often so closely tied to our sense of who we are, many of us struggle to switch off on holidays. But it's never too late to hide the laptop.

The banjo frog, Limnodynastes dumerilii Jodi Rowley

Clicks, bonks and dripping taps: listen to the calls of 6 frogs out and about this summer

Jodi Rowley, Australian Museum

Not all frogs 'ribbit' — some sound like a motorbike changing gears or a tennis ball being hit. This summer, keep your eyes and ears out for these Aussie frogs.

PopTika/Shutterstock

The less equal we become, the less we trust science, and that’s a problem

Tony Ward, University of Melbourne

New Zealand's government seems to trust scientists the most, the US government, the least.

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Humans learn from mistakes — so why do we hide our failures?

Ben Newell, UNSW

Australia's behavioural economics unit publishes rather than hides the results of its unsuccessful experiments.

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