We had been really looking forward to the occasion and had prepared a host of articles ready for the day that would platform the voices of a range of brilliant Australian Christian women.

First up was an interview with Rev Dr Jill Firth, co-editor of a new book Grounded in the Body, in Time and Place, in Scripture, which draws together writing from some of the best Australian evangelical women scholars. We were excited about the idea of a whole new audience discovering the women whose work Grounded included –a diverse group with well-loved names and newcomers we hope to hear more of.

‘Australian Christian women are going to love sharing that story,’ we thought.

We also published a piece co-written by Erin Martine Sessions, Rosie Clare Shorter and Erica Hamence – excellent scholars and thinkers – reflecting on the parliamentary rape allegations and the school students sexual assault petition that had dominated Australia’s national conversation for the last few weeks. We knew their insights would be deeply considered.

Eternity’s Rebecca Abbott shared her interview with popular preacher Christine Caine. Caine founded anti-trafficking org A21 in 2008 with her husband, Nick, and has since proved to be a capable and gutsy advocate in the heart-wrenching space. In this piece, Bec got Christine’s advice to women – a perfect IWD piece from an inspiring and relatable Christian leader.

And we shared a piece from Rev Stephanie Jane Judd, a heart-warming encouragement for all kinds of women in all walks of life: “… Keep going. We need you. Our world needs you,” she wrote.

While all of these pieces were published on International Women’s Day, the day did not turn out to be dominated by the wisdom of wonderful women, but rather by men squabbling amongst themselves in a game of opinion-piece tit-for-tat, which has done little to change minds or uncover new perspectives.

We truly believe the pieces we shared on IWD might just do both, if only our readers might get past the noisiest contributors and dig a little deeper. They are golden.

You should take a read if you missed them.