"As we emerge from hibernation, if we can resist the urge to sweep away the changes brought by COVID-19 that have heralded greater flexibility and reduced costs of working for women, we can bring the possibility of equity into a reality not for our distant descendants, but for our daughters."

For decades, roughly equal numbers of women and men have graduated from medical schools but, as men rise through training programs and leadership ranks, women drop off. In Australia, females account for roughly 30 per cent of medical school deans, chief medical officers, medical college boards and committee members, and 12.5 per cent of large hospital chief executives.

"I want to show the beauty of Afghanistan and how music can connect people and how music can connect each country to another country.”

The phenomenon of mothers going part-time but ending up working well beyond their paid hours because they feel "I'm very grateful, I'm so lucky to have the flexibility" is so widely acknowledged that workplace consultants have given it a name: "The four-day fallacy".

Latest figures show that only two percent of fathers take government funded paid parental leave. While the legislation is gender neutral, allowing either parent to take the 18 weeks leave at minimum wage, in heterosexual couples it’s almost always mum. The government scheme financially benefits new parents but isn’t making the gender equality inroads that policy makers once hoped.

"The idea men have to be strong might lead to violence rather than strength. The idea men have to be in charge of their emotions and logical often leads to men who can't empathise with others."