''Woman's Day'' is an Australian

women's magazine This is a list of women's magazines from around the world. These are magazines that have been published primarily for a readership of woman, women. Currently published *''10 Magazine (UK), 10 Magazine'' (UK – distributed worldwide) *''Al Jam ...

published by

Are Media Are Media is an Australian media company. It was formed after the 2020 purchase of the assets of Bauer Media Australia, which had in turn acquired the assets of Pacific Magazines, AP Magazines and Australian Consolidated Press (ACP) during th ...

. It is one of Australia's most widely read weekly magazines as of June 2023.

History and profile

Woman's Day ''Woman's Day'' is an American women's magazine that covers such topics as homemaking, food, nutrition, physical fitness, physical attractiveness, and fashion. The print edition is one of the Seven Sisters (magazines), Seven Sisters magazines. ...

'', in Australia, was founded on August 16, 1948. The magazine focused on celebrity stories, fashion trends, creative cooking, advice, fiction, medical tips and current events. The first cover was artwork featuring a child offering up a pink

hyacinth ''Hyacinthus'' is a genus of bulbous herbs, and spring-blooming Perennial plant, perennials. They are fragrant flowering plants in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Scilloideae and are commonly called hyacinths (). The genus is native predomin ...

snipped from her mother's favorite pot plant, sending a message to readers to "come and join the fun". In 1950 the magazine gained Alice Mabel Jackson, previously employed by

The Australian Women's Weekly ''The Australian Women's Weekly'', sometimes known simply as ''The Weekly'', is an Australian monthly women's magazine published by Are Media in Sydney and founded in 1933. For many years it was the number one magazine in Australia before bein ...

, as an editor. Jackson moved to

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

to take on this role. Originally printed and published by Joseph Swanson Wilkinson of

Toorak, Victoria Toorak () is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, south-east of Melbourne's Melbourne central business district, Central Business District, located within the City of Stonnington Local government areas of Victoria, ...

for Cologravure Publications (The Herald & Weekly Times Limited), the magazine subsequently became part of

ACP Magazines Are Media is an Australian media company. It was formed after the 2020 purchase of the assets of Bauer Media Australia, which had in turn acquired the assets of Pacific Magazines, AP Magazines and Australian Consolidated Press (ACP) during th ...

. ACP Magazines was owned by

Nine Entertainment Co Nine Entertainment Co. Holdings Limited is an Australian publicly listed company with holdings in mass media radio and television broadcasting, publishing and digital media. It uses Nine as its corporate branding. The entity is largely a succ ...

, which owns Australian

television network A television broadcaster or television network is a telecommunications network for the distribution of television show, television content, where a central operation provides programming to many television stations, pay television providers or ...

Nine Network Nine Network (stylised 9Network, and commonly known as Channel Nine or simply Nine) is an Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by parent company Nine Entertainment and is one of the five main free-to-air television ...

. Because of this, ''Woman's Day'' often featured many stories either based on or in partnership with a Nine Network program, such as '' A Current Affair''. The magazine became part of

Bauer Media Group Heinrich Bauer Publishing (), trade name, trading as Bauer Media Group, is a German multimedia conglomerate headquartered in Hamburg. It operates worldwide and owns more than 600 magazines, over 400 digital products and 50 radio and TV stations, ...

in 2012, after Nine Entertainment Co experienced financial difficulties. ''Woman's Day'' is published weekly by Bauer Media Pty Limited and is headquartered in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

. Aimed at women aged 25 to 54, it includes news, gossip, interviews,

lifestyle Lifestyle is the interests, opinions, behaviours, and behavioural orientations of an individual, group, or culture. The term "style of life" () was introduced by Austrian psychologist Alfred Adler in his 1929 book, ''The Case of Miss R.'', w ...

and

recipe A recipe is a set of instructions that describes how to prepare or make something, especially a dish (food), dish of prepared food. A sub-recipe or subrecipe is a recipe for an ingredient that will be called for in the instructions for the main r ...

s. Sales figures, readership and advertising revenue have fallen significantly, down from 405,000 weekly sales in 2010 to 330,000 in March 2014. Readership fell another 14.6% in the year ended 2014. In early April 2020, Bauer Media Australia announced that it would be closing ''Woman's Day'' as well as several Australian and New Zealand brands including ''

'' and ''

New Zealand Woman's Weekly The ''New Zealand Woman's Weekly'' is a weekly New Zealand women's magazine published by Are Media. , it had a circulation of 82,040, third by paid sales after ''TV Guide'' and Are Media's ''New Zealand Woman's Day''. History On 8 December 1932 ...

'' in response to the economic downturn caused by the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

in Australia and New Zealand. On June 17, 2020, Australian investment company Mercury Capital acquired ''Woman's Day'' as part of its purchase of Bauer Media's Australian and New Zealand assets. In late September 2020, Mercury Capital rebranded Bauer Media as

Controversies

In 2007, the magazine settled out of court with

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

television presenter

Charlotte Dawson Charlotte Dawson (8 April 1966 – 22 February 2014) was a New Zealand–Australian television personality. She was known in New Zealand for her roles as host of '' Getaway'', and in Australia as a host on '' The Contender Australia'' and as a ...

, who had sued the magazine over its coverage of her divorce. The magazine underwent significant layoffs in 2008. In November 2013, ''Woman's Day'' came under fire from its readers after a story featuring

Kate Middleton Catherine, Princess of Wales (born Catherine Elizabeth Middleton; 9 January 1982), is a member of the British royal family. She is married to William, Prince of Wales, heir apparent to the British throne. Born in Reading, Catherine grew u ...

, the

Duchess of Cambridge Duke of Cambridge is a hereditary title of nobility in the British royal family, one of several royal dukedoms in the United Kingdom. The title is named after the city of Cambridge in England. It is heritable by male descendants by primogeni ...

, took issue with her appearance by comparing a photo of her before having her baby and after with the headline "What's happened to Kate?" Criticism suggested that women who have just had a baby often look tired, and she was not wearing makeup in the second image like she was in the first. In 2014, television presenter

Grant Denyer Grant Craig Denyer (born 12 September 1977) is an Australian television and radio presenter and motor racing driver, who has worked for several television networks, including Seven Network and Network 10, mostly serving as a presenter. He previ ...

began legal proceedings against the magazine after it claimed he and his wife were in a rehab facility in

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

for

methamphetamine Methamphetamine (contracted from ) is a potent central nervous system (CNS) stimulant that is mainly used as a recreational drug use, recreational or Performance-enhancing substance, performance-enhancing drug and less commonly as a secon ...

addiction. Denyer claimed they had visited a rehab facility, but it was not for drug issues, and reaffirmed they did not have a drug addiction. The magazine backed the story saying Denyer's friends were their sources for the story. In 2014, ''Woman's Day'' was criticized on the

Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is Australia’s principal public service broadcaster. It is funded primarily by grants from the federal government and is administered by a government-appointed board of directors. The ABC is ...

's '' Media Watch'', in which it was described as "garbage journalism" for the use of

sensationalist In journalism and mass media, sensationalism is a type of editorial tactic. Events and topics in news stories are selected and worded to excite the greatest number of readers and viewers. This style of news reporting encourages biased or emotiona ...

headlines and content.ABC ''Media Watch'' 7/7/14

References

External links

* {{Are Media 1953 establishments in Australia ACP magazine titles Are Media Weekly magazines published in Australia Women's magazines published in Australia Celebrity magazines Magazines established in 1953 Magazines published in Sydney