Julia Gillard

I see that Julia Gillard is being labeled a 'fanatic' in the latest scare campaign. I don't have anything to say to that, except that it's not all that surprising that the Conservatives (or the Tories, as Keating used to call them) are doing so badly in the polls. They really think people are that stupid; no wonder people take offence.

I'm not really a feminist these days. I still call myself one, because I couldn't bear to be the kind of person who is ashamed of the word, or who thinks that feminists are women who are too bossy or are scared that men will never go out with anyone who calls themselves that. (Rik Mayall used to say 'all men are feminists; its the only way to pull birds'; O! for the good old days...) I'm not really a feminist because I lead a life that is so privileged that I can surround myself with people with whom it is not an issue. And I am not really a feminist because I think that most social constructions of gender are pretty unhelpful, whatever gender you are. Men have had more obvious advantages in the construction of gender, but I think it comes at a price too.

So the point is, that in my privileged little life, I forget just how hard some of the battles have been and I forget the number of battles that haven't been won. I saw on the news that Brad Pitt was paid twice as much as Angelina Jolie for Mr and Mrs Smith. BlueJ made the argument that if twice as many people see the film for Pitt then that's valid marketing (but only if there is twice as many). On the other hand, in most Third World countries, there is less of a pay gap than that.

And this morning, reading up on Gillard to see what, if anything, might inspire someone to describe her as a fanatic, I was reminded of how recent and how skin-deep some of our equality really is. In 1983, Gillard became the second woman to lead the Australian Students' Union; in 1990 she became one of the first female partners in one of Australia's most prestigious Law firms, Slater and Gordon. As Chief-of-Staff to John Brumby, she drafted the Affirmative Action guidelines which set as a goal that Labor have women in 35% of winnable seats.

In May this year, Bill Heffernen called her 'deliberately barren' and said that because she'd had no children she was not qualified for public office, which, as she pointed out, was ironic, because if she'd had children, she probably wouldn't have the possibility of serving in public office with such distinction that she is the most prominent female politician in Australia today.