Category: Stories

Certification Is What Creates a Workforce

Post author By CreativeWomensAssociation
Post date December 9, 2025

Australia’s creative sector is stalled not because of funding scarcity, but because no national certification system exists to turn practitioners into a recognised workforce. Using national data, this article explains why certification — not grants — is the foundation of a functioning creative economy, and how the CWA model provides the missing infrastructure.

Tags Arts Sector, Australia Creative Policy, Certification, Creative Economy, Creative Industries, Creative Women, creative workforce, CWA, Economic Strategy, Gender Equity, Harris Tweed model, national standards, Policy Reform, provenance, Workforce Development

Creative Business & Leadership Creative Health & Wellbeing Creative Survival Economic Independence & Women's Enterprise Health In Real Life | IRL. Insight Intermission Legacy & History Popular Culture, Women & the Creative Economy Power & Privilege Science & Research Smart News Stories The Almanac The Architecture of Women's Health The Future of Women's Work: Creative, Economic & Cultural Power The Reading Shelf Wellness Work & Money

The High-Performance Load of Women

Post author By CreativeWomensAssociation
Post date December 8, 2025

Women operate at elite-performance load every day while systems continue treating their strain as personal pathology. This evidence-based analysis exposes how society gives men high-performance infrastructure and gives women diagnostic questionnaires—and why systemic accountability can no longer be avoided.

Tags Australia, Certification, Creative Health, Creative Industries, Creative Women’s Association, creative workforce, Cultural Labour, CWA Australia, economic gap, economic renewal, gendered economics, national policy., national standards, policy, provenance, Social Prescribing, Structural Inequality

Blogs Creative Health & Wellbeing Creative Spark Creative Survival Field Notes, Observations & Case Studies Health In Real Life | IRL. Innovation & Ideas Insight Intermission Play Popular Culture, Women & the Creative Economy Smart News Stories The Almanac The Architecture of Women's Health The Future of Women's Work: Creative, Economic & Cultural Power The Reading Shelf Wellness

If Life Were Golf, Women Would Be Starting Four Suburbs Back

Post author By CreativeWomensAssociation
Post date December 2, 2025

A humorous, relatable exploration of the Domestic Load Handicap (DLH) — a new model that uses real-world data to measure the domestic and mental load carried by women. This piece reframes women’s overwhelm as a predictable structural outcome, not a personal weakness, highlighting how DLH can transform women’s health, economic security, and daily life.

Creative Business & Leadership Creative Capital Creative Survival Economic Independence & Women's Enterprise Field Notes, Observations & Case Studies In Real Life | IRL. Innovation & Ideas Insight Intermission Legacy & History Popular Culture, Women & the Creative Economy Power & Privilege Smart News Stories The Almanac The Future of Women's Work: Creative, Economic & Cultural Power Wellness Work & Money

This Is Not a Workforce Gap — It’s an Abyss

Post author By CreativeWomensAssociation
Post date December 1, 2025

A national data review shows that 76% of unpaid labour performed by women creates an unmeasured economic abyss rather than a workforce gap. The CWA argues that Australia’s largest structural deficit is invisible creative and care labour, and proposes a certified creative workforce to transform and formalise this missing sector

Arts & Culture Creative Business & Leadership Creative Capital Creative Survival Creativity Economic Independence & Women's Enterprise Field Notes, Observations & Case Studies Historical Contributions & Women's Science In Real Life | IRL. Innovation & Ideas Insight Intermission Legacy & History Popular Culture, Women & the Creative Economy Power & Privilege Smart News Stories The Almanac The Future of Women's Work: Creative, Economic & Cultural Power Wellness Work & Money

Australia’s Creative Economy Is Running on Empty

Post author By CreativeWomensAssociation
Post date November 28, 2025

Australia’s creative economy is being held back by the collapse of its textile manufacturing base. With less than 1% of apparel textiles milled onshore and no national provenance certification, Australia risks losing its cultural, economic, and creative sovereignty. A real creative economy requires structure, manufacturing, and protected provenance — not symbolic celebration days.

Tags Certification, CreativeAuthority, CreativeCare, CreativeEconomy, CreativeExcellence, CreativeHealth, CreativeWomensAssociation, CreativeWorkforce, CulturalEconomy, CWAAustralia, GenderEquity, NationalStandards, PreventativeHealth, SystemChange, UNESCO, WomenAndWork

Arts & Culture Folklore & Wisdom Insight Intermission Legacy & History Stories The Reading Shelf

Life Is Art

Post author By CreativeWomensAssociation
Post date November 24, 2025

Japan’s cultural philosophy shows that life is art, and everyday practices like Souji build responsibility, wellbeing, and community cohesion. Evidence from the WHO demonstrates that creative rituals support mental health and longevity — outcomes reflected in Japan’s world-leading health and happiness rankings. Western culture, dominated by digital performance and consumption, can learn from Japan’s integration of creativity into daily life as a form of preventative health.