Well, didn’t our Julia do a bang up job of
getting the issue of misogyny and sexism front and centre on the political
stage, both here and abroad, with her zinger of a speech directed at Tony
Abbott. Gosh, there are some absolute classics in her 15 minutes of viral fame.
I intend to use “I will not be lectured about [insert subject] by that man. I
will not” as soon as I have the chance. You know when someone says or does
something to you that is blatantly wrong or rude or nasty and you draw a
complete blank with setting them straight in the moment. Later on, you have all
these great fantasies of the perfect sneering disdainful retort you could have
made. Well, Julia got to do that. And it’s there in all it’s glory on YouTube
so she can enjoy Tony’s squirming again and again in the privacy of her room at
the Lodge with a bowl of popcorn and iPad on her lap. Woohoo. I’ve just watched the whole thing again and I
almost welled up midway through. I think I punched the air as she finished,
too. And I’m not even a Labor voter (Yet!). Go on, you watch it again here.
I am sure our (female) collective high
fiving stems a little from viewing a successful woman delivering a well put
together comeback to a man who throws around the word sexism and misogyny for
political gain but who would have no idea of what it feels like to have
encountered it himself (obviously as he is a man, derr) and on record has
uttered some absolute shockers of comments in that regard which are very
telling about his underlying attitudes. Abortion is the easy way out? Puh-lease.
Most women I know have experienced the
uncomfortable feeling of being (at best - let’s ignore outright sexual
harassment here) slighted, looked over, ogled or talked down to in the
workplace as a result of our gender. It’s a fact of life that most of us have
to swallow (perhaps a bad choice of words J) and
get over because raising it usually ends up with you being perceived as a
whining bra burner.
Sexism is a grey area and very subtle. A
lot of the time it’s unconscious, at others it’s a reaction to a man feeling
intimidated or wanting control. Sometimes it’s just blatant. I also believe
there are many good men who don’t carry these attitudes at all, who like and
admire successful, hardworking women (especially if it’s their wives and
daughters). In fact, I don’t even think Tony Abbott hates women. He just quite
likes the status quo – mostly men in charge. Who wouldn’t?
We can be extremely grateful for women’s
opportunities and place in Australian society when we lift our eyes beyond our
shores. A 14-year-old girl in Pakistan was shot for wanting an education for
heaven’s sake. For women in many countries there is such a long way to go to
get to anywhere near the level of freedom and prospects women in the developed
world enjoy.
But still, I do not think we have come far
enough along for every conversation about the progress of women to be met with
exasperated sighs and exhortations from the male population that it’s a
non-issue. And when I say male population I am not referring to some exotic
species. They are our husbands, partners, fathers, sons, brothers and uncles.
The fact is women are overrepresented in
our universities but underrepresented in senior positions across all
enterprises – public and private. And don’t quote to me that we have a female
Prime Minister and Governor General and a woman is the CEO of Westpac. Good
examples and a great start but this is not the norm when you dig down into the
stats on board and management positions held by women.
Until we face and shift attitudes that
exist in both men’s AND women’s minds about equality and what that looks like
in today’s world then there are still a few more impassioned, indignant
speeches that need to be heard.
