The Climb

Iconic journalist and television presenter Geraldine Doogue turns her attention to an issue central to our times. How are we, as women, represented at the top levels of power in Australia?

In candid and personal conversations with fourteen women leading the way in fields as wide-ranging as business, politics, religion, education and the armed forces, Doogue gets to the heart of what it means to be a woman in power in Australia.

Inspiring and insightful, The Climb reveals a varied and at times quite unexpected picture of contemporary Australia.

Read Caroline Baum's Review

The Climb is a welcome anthology of insightful and frank conversations with women at the top that puts an Australian angle on Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In manifesto.

Doogue’s well-chosen selection of high profile women, all of whom are leaders of others rather than solo types, covers about ambition, failure, missteps, wisdom, disappointment, weaknesses, flaws and moments of deep satisfaction. All of those who are mothers agree that becoming a parent rounds them out professionally as well as personally. Most spend little time dwelling on the past and prefer to look ahead. Many have shied away from direct confrontation with male hostility, but some have brazened it out and won the respect and in some cases friendship of former foe.

Doogue punctuates their revelations with plenty of her own about how she has responded to professional stresses and challenges and frames the entire collection in the light of witnessing Julia Gillard’s rise and fall which caused so many women anguish and disquiet.

About the Author

Geraldine Doogue is a renowned Australian journalist and broadcaster, host of Radio National’s Saturday Extra and ABC Television’s Compass. She has won two Penguin Awards for excellence in broadcasting from the Television Society of Australia and a United Nations Media Peace Prize.