Julia Kennedy, now a freelance senior camera operator, discusses her experiences as a trainee studio camera operator at the ABC in the early 1980s. Through a back-and-forth with interviewer Catherine Shirley, the women are able to have an expansive and reflective conversation about the frustrating gendered barriers in the media industry.

Beyond the overt instances of sexism that have become industry legend, Kennedy digs into the more subtle absurdities of the 1980s: what particular roles were seen as appropriate for women, the need to keep your head down, and awkward social interactions at work.

The frank discussion, based on lived experience, allows for humour. Kennedy recounts the funny bureaucracies of her predominantly male section, which confronted her when the only other woman at work left. This open conversation between two professionals offers first-hand insight into the barriers women in media faced in the past, along with issues that still resonate today.