Women's Weekly editor-in-chief Helen McCabe resigns

Long-serving editor-in-chief of The Australian Women's Weekly, Helen McCabe, has stepped down from the helm of the magazine she headed for more than six years.

A statement from publishing house Bauer Media on Wednesday said Ms McCabe had decided to leave the company "to pursue other interests".

Ms McCabe took over at the AWW in 2009 and scored a number of high-profile stories during her tenure, including cover stories featuring former prime minister Julia Gillard and inspiring fire survivor Turia Pitt.

In the statement from Bauer Ms McCabe described her job, once done by pioneering women's magazine editor Ita Buttrose, as "one of the truly great honours in Australian publishing".

"But after six and a half years it is the right time to move," she said.

Bauer said it would announce Ms McCabe's replacement "in the near future".

While Ms McCabe did not say what her next endeavour would be, The Australian has reported her resignation is effective from Friday and will include six months' gardening leave.

German publishing giant Bauer acquired the AWW as part of the suite of Australian Consolidated Press magazines it bought from Nine Entertainment in 2012.

Ms McCabe's departure from Bauer follows the exit of the company's chief executive, David Goodchild, who left the Australian operation in December to return to Bauer's London office.