I’ll let the people who know far more about politics than me, and write about it far more astutely than I ever could, to write in depth about what happened to our Australian political landscape in the past 24 hours. Just indulge me enough to say this, nice and loudly:
WE HAVE A FEMALE PRIME MINISTER.
On Twitter and on telly and face to face, I’m hearing things. I’m hearing things like if Kevin couldn’t stitch up an ETS deal, what makes you think Julia can? And things like nothing will change, this doesn’t really mean a lot. I’m hearing questions like what does she plan to do about asylum seekers? Will she lean right as Rudd seemed to suggest last night? People are worried that a voter backlash could result in Abbott as Prime Minister, save us all! No one seems to know what this will mean for Conroy and the internet filter plans, or for the mining industry. Some people are wondering how this woman from the left came to be thrust into power from the right, and what that means, and who owns her. I’ve heard said, frequently, who cares about her hair or her genitals, what of her policies? All for conversations and debates to come.
Today is not for those. Not in my mind.
Today is for this: Quentin Bryce, our first female Govenor General, just swore in Julia Gillard, our first female Prime Minister. Not only did few expect this to happen today: few expected to see this happen this year, this decade – some, this lifetime.
I don’t think I even knew how much this could matter until, when after years working in a male-dominated structure, I was employed by a female school principal – a woman who was passionate about her work and passionately feminist too. She mentored me, she inspired me. It was the first time, I came to realise, that I had entertained the thought of pursuing leadership positions within my career. Although I have different goals now, that mentoring remains with me. My mentor knew that her role as a strong leader in a school full of girls, in an industry where although most teachers are women a significant majority of staff in leadership roles are men, was important. She understood the symbolism and the way in which instinctively, it mattered.
I’ll wager that Quentin Bryce and Julia Gillard understand the symbolism too. I’ll wager they feel a soaring pride for the role they are both playing in our history, alongside whatever else draws their attention today.
Watching the coverage this morning, I wept. Bean looked at my tears and said ‘Mummy’s sad,’ her little arms reaching up. All I could do was hug her and say ‘no darling, mummy is happy. Mummy is happy for you.’
My daughter lives in a nation, today, with a female leader. When she learns about federal politics at school and in life, she won’t only be learning about the careers of men. She won’t be speculating on whether we will have a female PM soon, or later, or in her lifetime.
This is only the beginning of my daughter’s lifetime, and Julia Gillard is already here.
Now we just need a GOOD female PM. Actually, what I really respect is that she’s not making a big deal out of it. I liked her quote “I didn’t come here to smash any glass ceilings, but to keep my feet firmly planted on the ground”
People must be judged on their merit, not on their gender, sexuality, race or any other metric. When we can look at our PM and merely say “That person is our prime minister” rather than saying “that person is our first female/gay/aboriginal” prime minister, only then will true equality have been recognised.
Very true G, but I feel this is an excellent start!
Yes, but actually *acknowledging* she *is* our first female PM isn’t perpetuating the inequality! It’s pointing out that there has been, and remains, a lot of obstacles to women gaining positions of power, and that that means she has to have been absolutely incredible to get where she is.
And y’know, I think she will be very good. I think she’s demonstrated that she’s smart, tough, doesn’t hold grudges, has a sense of humour, and has a better handle on Tony Abbott than most people I’ve seen! Fingers crossed the electorate don’t go all tall-poppy on her…
She’s also the first unmarried PM. It’s interesting that it’s taken so long.
Yes, that’s true, and also a significant milestone. I do hope we have a couple ‘living in sin’ in the Lodge soon! Not likely to spend her Sundays doing media appearances outside of church either. Marvellous.
It’s only when women succeed that we are advised to ‘judge them on their merits’. This is taken for granted with men. Perhaps true equality will be when we aren’t told to ignore the fact that someone is, indeed, a woman.
I would be happy for her to make a big deal out of it, but she won’t. So it’s up to us to do it for her
For me, it IS a big deal. I hope she wears the ‘first female Australian PM’ tag with pride for the rest of her life.
In the UK, Gordon Brown was judged as much on how smiley he was and how disabled (visually impaired he was) as on his merits. And our one female PM… yeurrgh.
But otoh, it’s better that there is or has been a woman in that post than when there hadn’t been. Just depresses me how long it takes, what a big deal it still is.
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Everything you have said is Win. There is more women in political power at this point in time in Australia then EVER before. How lovely. How lovely that I can say to my daughter that it is no longer, a maybe, a fantasy, a thing for the sometime in the future. Hopefully when she grows up, it will be like women having the vote – taken for granted (give or take!) and as something that just IS. Yea!
Having spent the day drinking champagne with my female friends, I can concur: it’s a fantastic start and (hopefully) a new dawn for real equality.
Sure was a sweet day, and you’re right it is a different public story that our children will be seeing and hearing year after year through school. The opportunity and options afforded them take on a whole new hue.
Question – Would y’all be so happy if Pauline Hanson had got the job?
Ahhh! I couldn’t not have put it better myself!! Today I enjoy this simple and amazing thought
No, G – not quite as happy. I’d still be chuffed that a woman got the job, but the reason I’m quite so thrilled is because not only is Julia a woman, but she’s also on the side of right. And by right, I mean left. So double the joy for me today.
I think the Pauline Hanson question is a very interesting one. You could ask the same about Sarah Palin in the US. I think Julia Gillard is in a different league, and no I would definately not have been happy to celebrate Pauline Hanson being the first woman PM (not that there was ever a remote chance). It’s complicated but let me try to explain.
For women to achieve true equality, the end result would be that the gender of the Prime Minister was neither here nor there. Women would make up approximately 50% of the positions of power (being representative of their numbers in the general community) and so we could afford to have extremes of opinion (hello, Pauline Hanson) within that demographic. Given that this is not the case, the female role models that we do have are significant and while they certainly don’t need to be tarred with the same political feathers, they do need (to my mind at least) to represent a reasonable proportion of the community, and to do it on their own terms, proving that you don’t have to hold extreme views or be patently stupid to get noticed as a female politician.
That is, a woman who holds fringe-dwelling extremist views (Hanson) or is clearly a used as a puppet for masogynistic gain (Palin), is not furthering the cause for female equality. She is showing that women can possibly succeed under certain (untenable) circumstances – as long as she is brain-dead or ridiculous enough not to cause any serious or long-term change to the status quo.
However, IF women did make up a substantially higher percentage of those in power, then such aforementioned extremist/puppet-style women would have every right to be there as much as the next man/woman. They just (rightly) wouldn’t take up as much airspace. They would co-exist with the broad spectrum of reasonable yet different women in politics. It’s just when they are held up to be examples that they necessarily come up for higher scrutiny. Julia Gillard, whether you like her, or agree with her, or not, has got to where she is under her own steam, and holds views that could reasonably be acceptable to a reasonable proportion of the community.
To suggest that all women band together to support a xenophobe or any woman at all simply because she is a woman and for no other reason, is simplistic and patronising. Julia Gillard got in on her merit. She also happens to be a woman. The symbolism of this is highly significant. If she were a woman of scant merit, the significance would necessarily be greatly reduced.
I agree Sarah, except that I don’t think the Pauline Hanson question is particularly interesting.
I think in this context Hanson is merely a strawperson. I have enough faith in my country to believe that someone with so little qualification (that is, no experience, credentials, policy clout, nuance, political acumen or nouse) could rise to a position of influence within a major party over a period of time, let alone become PM.
Of course I am happy that our new Prime Minister happens to be someone who I think is shrewd and whose politics largely suit me as a left-leaning feminist. As mand quite rightly pointed out, this would not be true of all women – Thatcher is an obvious example. But, speaking hypothetically (because it’s now an irrelevancy, yay!), had our first female PM been someone for whom I would never wish to vote on ideology/policy grounds, I believe I would still feel quite proud, even relieved, this week. I would still feel that this country just became better for my daughter in at least one way.
That’s what this post was about – as I said in the beginning, putting all the politics and concern about circumstances and details aside – this is momentous. This is worth taking the time to soak up. Certainly not all women feel the same way but many, many, of us do.
This morning I woke up with a little frisson of excitement when I realised I lived in a country where the possibility of a woman being in power had been realised. I’m the mother of two daughters and I echo your last two paragraphs. Hooray!
And for the people who may think it’s not a big deal that the PM is a woman, them I repeat this Twitter quote “If women were equal already, then it wouldn’t matter.”
Regardless of political persuasion, for me, having a female PM is wonderful – momentous even. This week I got to explain to my five year old daughter that a woman was now the PM and just to see the excited look on her face was enough to bring it all home for me. We will be writing to Julia Gillard this week to congratulate her on her ahievement. It’s one thing to tell little girls and young women they can be anything in life, but it’s another to have it so clearly demonstrated as has happened this week.
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