|
So yes, here's my rant from today's broadcast on Radio National. It's scary how little you can say in a minute. Lucky I talk fast...
Double, double, toil and trouble for Gillard
“Golden Girl or Red Witch?” So screamed the cover of the West Australian’s weekend extra this month. It could only be about one woman: Julia Gillard, the nation’s most controversial single, childless female.
The witch hunt over Gillard has been in full flight since that infamous photo of her sparse kitchen in 2005. She was slammed for her empty fruit bowl and bare walls: could a woman without rotting bananas, baby pictures and brushed aluminium fittings really lead our nation?
Female politicians just can’t win – after all, if Gillard had bananas in her fruit bowl at this year’s prices she’d have been panned as a luxury-loving lefty elitist.
Likewise, female politicians with children are seen as too busy to be tending the business of state; while unmarried, childless women get labelled as freaks and she-devils. No wonder we don’t have more women in politics.
As it is, Gillard represents a growing percentage of Australian women. Figures from the Australian Institute of Family Studies reveal that fewer than half of all Australian families fit the traditional ‘married with kids’ model, and more women than ever are choosing to live alone.
So it’s time we judged our elected politicians – male and female – for the quality of their ideas and ethics rather than their adherence to the white picket fence archetype. There are many forms of family in Australia, and we should expect our politicians to reflect that diversity.
|
