Julia Gillard Returns to Complain About Misogyny in Politics Again
For those who remember when Julia Gillard was Prime Minister she claimed that criticism of her was due to misogyny, this included her infamous misogyny speech in parliament against Tony Abbott in 2012. Her legacy as Prime Minister was to unleash the radical feminist movement onto Australia which has given us the domestic violence hysteria campaign and empowered frieghtbat feminists such as Clementine Ford to occupy the media.
We all breathed a sign of relief when Gillard was ousted in June 2013 and decided to leave politics. However she has slowly worked her way back into public life. In 2014 she was appointed as Chair of the Global Partnership for Education which lobbies governments for education funding for girls in developing nations. Gillard succeeded in using Rihanna to extract $90 million of taxpayers’ money for the partnership from Foreign Minister Julie Bishop.
In September 2017 she was appointed the Chair of mental health organisation beyondblue. Given how she constantly demonized men and exhibited misandrist like behavior as Prime Minister her appointment to head of an organisation which has its main focus the mental health of men was heavily criticized, many stated they would no longer donate to beyondblue. In one of her first interviews as Chair she hypothised that Donald Trump may be mentally ill.
She still supports other left wing women in politics and backed Hillary Clinton in her failed Presidential big urging her to call out misogyny early in the campaign. Most recently she made a special plea to the voters in Batman to back a strong woman like Ged Kearney.
Now Gillard’s latest gong is chair of Global Institute for Women’s Leadership at Kings College in London. In one of her first interviews in the role on ABC Radio she has relaunched her complaints about misogyny in politics and believes that African nations such as Rwanda treat women better in politics.
She claimed that female leaders such as Jacinda Ardern and Theresa May are still subjected to genedered criticism about their looks and family situation “I’m not surprised and I suppose my predominant emotion isn’t one of disappointment, it’s frustration. Are we there yet? Aren’t we better than this already?”.
She has obviously been ignoring the fauwing the media does over Canadian Prime Minister Justin Truedau’s looks, right down to his buttocks, or the mockery of Donald Trump’s physical appearance and even genitalia.
Her assertion about female politicians “If you do have children, and the New Zealand Prime Minister is the major example of this at the moment, then; ‘Heavens, how on earth are you balancing that with the rigours of politics?’” I can only recall positive media responses to Jacinta Ardern’s pregnancy announcement on par with that of a pending royal birth.
Gillard also wants to address the gender wage gap and believes without action it would take 200 years before men and women have equal work and opportunities. She is also receptive to a UK proposal to name and shame compaines of over 250 employees who have an alleged gender wage gap.
It of course has never dawned on female leaders like Gillard who play the gender card that their policies and judgement (like the carbon tax and boats) are responsible for their demise. The fact they are subjected to robust criticism and even riducle is not unique to them and every politician must learn to deal with it.
Thankfully what Julia Gillard says no longer carries the same authority post a political career. But contributions like this and her positions on organizations such as the Institute for Women’s Leadership can still have toxic impact on our body politic.
