Australia’s Prime Minister Julia Gillard is fed up with the sexist and misogynist views of opposition leader Tony Abbott and she is 
not afraid to speak up .
Gillard states that Abbott is sexist, misogynist and anti-woman and it seems that she has the proof to back it up. Stating that Abbott would not treat another man in a similar way, Gillard recounts the sexist strategies of Abbott, such as standing next to a sign outside of parliament saying: “ditch the witch and “man’s bitch”. Abbott has apparently also repeatedly acted in a demeaning manner towards Gillard, both catcalling her across the table at work and telling her to shut up while speaking in the past.
Gillard countered with some well-chosen words when she reminded Abbott about some of the things he said, such as “abortion is the easy way out”, and that Gillard should “make an honest woman of herself” while reminding everyone of other derogatory opinions voiced by Abbott during a discussion of women being underrepresented in institutions of power in Australia when he answered with “is that a bad thing?” When discussing the right to equal opportunity for women and men (and girls and boys) Abbott also expressed his view of women as inferior with the statement: “Yeah I completely agree, but what if men are by physiology or temperament more adapted to exercise authority or to issue command”. When another speaker claimed that it is hard to ignore the fact that women are underrepresented in many positions, Abbott countered with the statement: “But now, there’s an assumption that this is a bad thing”.
Gillard also stated that: “If he wants to know what misogyny looks like in modern Australia he doesn’t need a motion in the house of Representatives, he needs a mirror”.
So what were the responses of Tony Abbott and manager of business Christopher Pyne? Pyne claims Gillard is “playing the victim for political purposes” while calling Gillard insipid and pathetic: “She played the victim in an insipid and pathetic performance that was un-prime ministerial”, while Abbott stated: “I think it’s time that everyone in the parliament moved on from this gender card which so many members of the government have been playing”.
Why is it that women who stand up against sexist and misogynist views are so often told that they are overreacting and have no sense of humor? As women we have the right to react to sexism, name-calling and male chauvinistic language. We also have the right to be treated with respect. We do not have to sit in silence and accept outdated claims concerning women’s inferiority no matter how humorless we may come across to misogynist men. Gillard simply had enough. Calling her insipid and pathetic is one way for the male politicians to try to silence her. Good thing it is not working.
Photo of Julia Gillard shared by Flickr user MystifyMe Concert Photography and shared under a creative commons license.
What nonsense
Julia Gillard is for Julia Gillard.
People at this level of politics are savages and you do no justice in trying to marry a deceitful self serving politician to your cause. As if she gives a monkey’s about Feminism. Your movement is but a tool for her and if you cant see that you are naive. Feminism is an extremest movement founded on a lot of baseless beliefs that there is some kind of male based sub-culture moving to restrict the development of Women. What rubbish.
Answer this: Any woman or collective of women can open and manage a private company at anytime, and stock its staffing ranks only with women if so chooses. Much the same way as forums like this can be created. So why do we not see much this?
Most woman don’t care for power. They are perfectly comfortable in their own skin and perfectly comfortable choosing to raise children when that time comes, which is the essential reason why many don’t advance their careers beyond their 30′s into the called power ranks. They just don’t want to. Janet Albrechtsen said much of this on Q&A recently, a program I’m sure you watch religiously. Men and woman in marriages and relationships make these decisions together with mutual respect for each other, their positions, feelings and beliefs.
The problem with movements like this seems to be an intense jealously of men and what you incorrectly perceive as the so called advantages they have in contemporary society. Believe me, there are very few and haven’t been for a very long time. But you keep bullshitting yourself and the sisterhood, you seem to do it well.
Wow – way to prove the patriarchy exists.
Michael, you can call feminism nonsense if you want as it does not really bother me. After the second wave of feminism, along with the beginning of the third wave, a “movement” arose called post-feminism in which people believe that feminism is not needed, that equality is now magically reached, and they call it, well nonsense and rubbish – just like you. They say that women now “have it all”, if by all you mean staying home and caring for their children and not advancing in the job place after the age of 30, which is basically what you are stating. So, just as much as you believe that feminist women are intensely jealous of men, I believe that people who believe in or are members of post-feminism are pretty sexist, misogynist, very close-minded and extremely traditional. I will gladly keep bullshitting myself until the day I die, and frankly, you are doing the same when believing in post-feminism if you ask me.
There is a belief that the modern western woman sit amongst the most privileged people on Earth. Whist the burden of family and personal responsibility are shared equally with men, most western woman which I imagine includes yourself, do not willingly seek manual or soiling work (as in employment) , are healthier than men on average and live longer. This is not to be confused with biological issues that are exclusive to woman in the areas of physical and mental health. Men too have such issues that are exclusive to them. Nor do I include personal safety and domestic violence, these are legitimate causes.
I recently witnessed a live feminist forum broadcast from the National Press Club (www.npc.org.au) where women of all walks of life where engaged in speaking about the challenges of woman in contemporary society.
Almost all of it was done in the vernacular of the ‘battle’ that women face – and here’s the thing.
The speakers were sitting up there donned in designer clothes, salon haircuts, make-up and jewellery. In the audience of this pristine place were other women (and some men) enjoying the a-la-carte lunch on menu, a spot of wine to wash it down and laced napkins to pad their mouths. All of this routinely interrupted by hearty claps to the gusto of the said speakers of how tough it is for the girls.
Switch cameras to the food camps in Africa, the violence of North Mexico, the ghettos of South Africa, Brazil, India and other developing countries; the debilitating plight or woman in conservative Muslim countries. War, violence hunger and misery endured every day by men woman and children in the world we live in today.
And what was the chief theme in this gathering of learned ladies? Equal pay between men and women (worked out on a bizarre formula of workplace participation); and how men have more roles in executive positions than men. What an injustice! Feel the rage of these woman at the bathroom mirror each day faced with such atrocities!
What is it that you want? What is that is so unjust and so wrong that you shackle your life to such a cause?
This is not the age of the suffragettes. I don’t know about the States, for I have never lived there. But here some men do wrong by woman and some woman do wrong by men. For most though the balance is right and just between the genders that were born to complement each other, and they do. In our countries Feminism along with many other so called righteous causes, is regarded as an indulgence of the spoilt and is handled at arm’s length. The proof is in the overwhelming majority, both men and woman, who simply do not agree with you