Men at Work

What would equality look like when it comes to gender and work? Annabel Crabb's acclaimed Quarterly Essay is now available in a new format.

When New Zealand's prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, announced her pregnancy, the headlines raced around the world. But when Scott Morrison and Josh Frydenberg became the first prime minister and treasurer duo since the 1970s to take on their roles while bringing up young children, this detail passed largely without notice. Why do we still accept that fathers will be absent? Why do so few men take parental leave in this country? Why is flexible and part-time work still largely a female preserve?

In the past half-century, women have revolutionised the way they work and live. But men's lives have changed remarkably little. Why? Is it because men don't want to change? Or is it because, every day in various ways, they are told they shouldn't?

In Men at Work, Annabel Crabb deploys political observation, workplace research and her characteristic humour and intelligence to argue that gender equity cannot be achieved until men are as free to leave the workplace (when their lives demand it) as women are to enter it.

About the Author

Annabel Crabb is one of Australia’s most popular political commentators, a Walkley-awarded writer, and the host of Australia’s first dedicated political cooking show, ABC TV’s Kitchen Cabinet.

She writes for ABC Online’s The Drum and has worked extensively in TV and radio. She is a columnist for the Sunday Age, Sun-Herald and Canberra’s Sunday Times, and has worked as a political correspondent and sketchwriter for titles including the Advertiser, the Age and the Sydney Morning Herald, and as London correspondent for Fairfax’s Sunday papers.

She won a Walkley Award for her 2009 essay on Malcolm Turnbull, and was Australia’s 2011 Eisenhower Fellow. Annabel is an enthusiastic social media user and tweets about politics and food.

She lives in Sydney with her partner, Jeremy, and their three children.