Women in Australia have just been royally screwed.
Julia Gillard, our first female Prime Minister, kicked out of leadership two months before the next election, in preference for her predecessor, Kevin Rudd.
Okay. It is true. She did kinda oust Kevin in his first term of government. But what everyone seems to forget is that her party put her up to it – with a VOTE!!
Her reward for being a team player was negotiating a hostile hung parliament through three years of extraordinary reforms. Being the target of a vicious media campaign. And then being dumped as unceremoniously as she started out.
Here are some of the headlines we got to enjoy while she was PM:
Her father “died of shame”
“She should be put in a chaff bag and thrown out to sea”
She’s been served up on an Liberal (Opposition) Party function menu as “Julia Gillard Kentucky Fried Quail – small breast, big thighs and a big red box”.
And recently, asked if her male hairdresser partner is gay.
There are some in the media who would have us believe that “women are destroying the joint” and others who feel quite comfortable telling journalists “women should shut up in public”.
To top it all off, any sign of disapproval is met with the accusation we’re just “too precious” and “playing the gender card”!
Thank god for GetUp, who established a Gender Card campaign to address the “deep, rank, sexist bullshit” in this country.
I mean, seriously. What the hell century are we living in again?
On the up side, representation of women in Australian media and politics is apparently reaching a 30% critical threshold. So maybe that’s why the old fellas are getting all hysterical…
…What you mad? Can’t handle that?
By the way, Happy Independence Day, America!
If you could switch roles, what’s the first thing you would do?
Alarna Rose Gray 
That is too bad. I’ve heard a lot of her speeches, she’s really stuck up for her country and kept it from being like the UK 😉
Yes, they say she is probably the most hard working PM we’ve ever had, ironically. She was a much better speaker before her party muzzled her, though… 🙂
Isn’t it appalling the way they can make such vicious personal attacks on a woman’s appearance ???
It’s utterly shameful, is what it is!
Alarna, you found your voice! Quite a vicious political scene you have described.Nasty personal attacks won’t win any points. Appalling.
Thanks, Lynne! Yes… this one found my voice 😉 It’s so horribly vicious. The only good thing about her being thrown out is we won’t have to hear it anymore…
Wow, that’s intense. It seems that men all over the world are realizing that dominance is slipping through their fingers.
If it were up to me, men wouldn’t get to cast a vote on women’s reproductive rights. Since it’s so easy for them to ignore their own responsibilities in that area, it shouldn’t be such a problem to get them to ignore ours.
Couldn’t agree more. Our opposition Leader is itching to outlaw abortion, I shudder to think what could happen if he gets in…
Little by little the TIMES ARE A CHANGIN!!!! Thanks for wishing us a happy independence day!!!
Changin’ none too soon! Hope you’re having a great long weekend 🙂
I am I hope you are well too!
Whoah, those are pretty nasty insults. Crude and ugly. Politics in Australia are as disgusting as politics in the U.S. Yay, for you, Alarna, for speaking out on this!
Ugly everywhere is for certain, though I was under the impression the US was at least not as crude as our lot?! Arghhh!!
I think the press these days puts too much pressure on the wrong things – open doors of controversy but doesn’t give more than a nation geographic look at the issues brought to the table. People get all fired up with only half of a story and lots of innuendo thrown in. It is destabilizing. I don’t know the details over this political upheaval – we have 3 or 4 on the go in Canada. The US is full of this irrational political stuff to the point that it is affecting govt policy. Then you look at Egypt and Syria – you think we’re on a slippery slope that is just beginning or maybe we are the ones who are more flexible and can jump around without our countries falling apart. Unfortunately I know a number of Serbians who still can’t believe what happened more that 15 years ago.
Yes, I hear what you’re saying. When we look at politics, I guess it’s the ugliest side of humanity staring back at us. And we realise why change is so damn slow… Whatever happened to common decency? But we are lucky to live in countries without anarchy. Either it means we are more flexible, or as people, we just haven’t suffered enough. Yet?
I think Julia has been unfairly treated by the media. Media outlets should apply a minimum of respect to the Prime Minister and not play on the gender card to diminish her.
Yes…Sadly, it looks like we’re going to be doing a lot of reflection ‘in hindsight’ on that very issue. As a nation, we should be ashamed!
Mainstream media act like vultures at a feeding frenzy, and they’ll push the bar anyway they know how. Often unkind using lowbrow rhetoric, what a media, and political set of systems we have at times, where minority voices are often sort to be silenced, and degraded. The problem when most only think in terms of numbers in so many aspects to governance.
Yes. And I heard a university professor recently claim that the major fault lies with the politicians, not the media. What a load of BS that is… Sure, it is a symbiotic relationship, but the media has no sense of values anymore. None.
The professor needed to get down to the base element, it is today’s society, it carries many faults, with few balances.
Excellent post, whatever anyone thinks of Julia Gillard I don’t think anyone can argue she was treated shockingly by the media!
Thank you, and yes, exactly! It’s not that I think she’s the perfect politician…Just some things are beyond politics. Appreciate your comment!
Wow. Those headlines and quotes are shocking. I’m trying to imagine those kind of comments being aimed at a female in Canada; perhaps I’ve got the rose-coloured glasses on, but I don’t think it would happen here. In any case, the way that Julia Gillard was treated is disgraceful.
Pardon my French, but we live in a fucking time warp here in Australia. Our country has just elected one of the prime culprits for Julia bashing into government!! It is a national disgrace, and I honestly don’t think this would happen in any other country. Definitely not in Canada 🙂