EVIL WOMEN
From poisoners and thieves to revolutionaries and killers, the figure of the ‘evil woman’ has long unsettled the public imagination. Acclaimed historian, Professor Joanna Bourke, explores the stories we tell and the assumptions we make about female violence, human nature, cruelty, desire, and power. In doing so, she reveals how fear and fascination have shaped the way societies define good and evil.
With her signature blend of sharp cultural insight and compelling storytelling, Bourke examines the women cast as monsters across history and asks what their stories reveal about morality, gender, and the limits of social order. Who gets labelled evil and why? Why do women who break the rules provoke such intense scrutiny? And what does our obsession with them say about us?
Joanna Bourke [UK]
Joanna Bourke is Professor of History at Birkbeck, University of London, a Fellow of the British Academy, and OBE. She writes on violence, pain, the emotions, and what it means to be human. She is the prize-winning author of eighteen books, as well as over 120 articles in academic journals. In 2026, she published Five Evil Women with Reaktion Books. Her books have been translated into Chinese, Russian, Spanish, Catalan, Italian, Portuguese, Czech, Turkish, Korean and Greek.
Natasha Mitchell
Natasha Mitchell is a multi-award-winning journalist and presenter of ABC Radio National’s flagship Big Ideas, hosted its popular daily Life Matters, was a founding host and creator of the blockbuster radio show and trailblazing podcast All in the Mind for a decade, and also of Science Friction. Natasha served as World Federation of Science Journalists’ vice president, was awarded a prestigious MIT Knight Fellowship, and has won the Grand Prize and four Gold World Medals at the New York Radio Festivals.
We acknowledge the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation - the custodians of the country on which we meet - and acknowledge their Elders, past and present.
The views and opinions expressed by the Festival participants are not necessarily the views of The Ethics Centre and our partners.