In celebration of International Women’s Day, we’ve brought in Dr Laura Ryan, Head of Research and Development at Ardea to sit down with us and discuss her lived experiences as a woman in finance. We talk about the unique challenges women faced in a male-dominated industry and strategies to overcome these hurdles, why it’s ok to ask for what you want, juggling a professional career and building an off-grid house in inner-city Sydney, and how Australia compares to the rest of the world on the gender equity front.
Dr Ryan led a joint research project on behalf of the CFA Institute with a grant from ANU on the role of gender, in promotion rates, in the financial services industry. One of the key findings was just asking for a promotion was worthwhile. This eye-opening research provides quantifiable insight into gender bias.
You can find the full study here.
Dr Ryan was also featured in Grand Designs in late 2024 with her aptly titled Impossible House, an ambitious project which has seen her convert a 104m2 2-bedroom Newtown workers cottage into a fully off-grid, sustainable (and extremely liveable) home.
Visit her website
Watch her Grand Designs episode
Visit Laura’s house on Sustainable House Day on Sunday 4 May 2025.
You can listen to Fixated for free on these leading podcast streaming services, and don’t forget to subscribe/follow us to ensure you’re the first to know about our next episodes:
and you can also find us on:
Can’t see your favourite podcast app? Let us know where you like to listen to your podcasts and we’ll do our best to publish Fixated there as well. Contact us here.
