Julia Gillard Has Spoken Out About All The Bullshit Female Politicians Have To Deal With
"Aren't we better than this already?"
Former Prime Minister Julia Gillard has been put in charge of a new institute for women’s leadership, and has used the opportunity to express renewed frustration about the sexist attitudes faced by female politicians.
“From time to time you look at it and shake your head in wonderment that we can still be going through these cycles,” she said, after being named the inaugural chair of the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership at King’s College in London.
“I suppose my predominant emotion isn’t one of disappointment, it’s frustration. Aren’t we better than this already?”
Gillard highlighted the reaction to New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Arden’s pregnancy, and contrasted it with her own treatment while in office, as an example of how female politicians seemingly cannot win.
“If you don’t have children, like I don’t, people will say, ‘how can you understand ordinary family life, you don’t have kids of your own’,” said Gillard. “If you do have children, and the New Zealand Prime Minister is the major example of this at the moment, [people will say] ‘heavens, how on earth are you balancing that with the rigours of politics?'”
The former PM also pointed to a 2017 controversy in the UK, when a BBC journalist commented on Prime Minister Theresa May’s makeup.
Sorry if I offended some by talking about May's thick make up but politics is about the personal & emotional not just stats and charts
— Nick Robinson (@bbcnickrobinson) June 9, 2017
Gillard predicted that it would be another 200 years before men and women were given equal work opportunities, unless more effort was made to address gender inequality.
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h/t ABC, The Australian