Not-A-Feminist Julie Bishop Appears To Have Discovered Sexism
Not-a-feminist Julie Bishop has again spoken about the need for more women in parliament, long after her words would have done the most good.
Appearing on the season two finale of Andrew Denton’s Interview last night, Bishop and Denton covered a range of topics.
They included the former deputy leader of the Liberal Party’s upbringing and family, the political messages in her sartorial choices, and surprising meetings she’s had with foreign leaders.
However, a good portion of the hour-long interview was spent discussing her experience as a woman in the male-dominated scene of Australian politics.
Referring to the shared female experience of being ignored in a roomful of men, Bishop recalled sitting in on a 2009 meeting regarding overthrowing Malcolm Turnbull as leader of the Liberal Party. Turnbull had been aware these meetings were going on, so had asked Bishop to attend.
“And so I sat there listening to their plan to topple Malcolm and how all this was going to occur,” said Bishop. “And Joe [Hockey] said, ‘Well look, I will stand as leader, and [Peter Dutton], you will be deputy,’ and then they’re going on. And I’m listening, thinking, ‘I thought I… Am I not the deputy?’
“So this went on. And then after a while I said, ‘Um, excuse me, I’m the deputy, and you can’t offer Peter my job, because the deputy’s job is voted on by the party room. So are we going to spill the deputy’s job too? Because if you are I shouldn’t be sitting in this meeting.'”
It’s an interesting, relatable story, and did a lot to endear her to Interview‘s studio audience, painting her as woke.
Bishop also said she had found it “disturbing” that she was the only woman appointed to Tony Abbot’s new cabinet in 2013, and that more women are needed in politics to change the culture that produced the “Julia Gillard Kentucky Fried Quail” incident.
If you recall, a 2013 fundraising dinner for the Liberal National Party in Queensland featured a menu item called “Julia Gillard Kentucky Fried Quail” with “small breasts, huge thighs and a big red box”.
“It was grotesque in its brutality,” said Bishop to Denton last night. “It was so childish, undergraduate — no, not even undergraduate humour.”
“See, we have to remember that until recent times parliament was all male. And so you had a whole bunch of men in Canberra, and they set the rules they set the customs, the precedents, the environment, it was all men. It was very much that culture around politics… But that kind of behaviour is just pathetic.”
Which is true. That sort of sexist behaviour should have no place anywhere, much less the highest echelons of Australia’s political system.
However, many viewers noted that this condemnation would have meant a whole lot more had Bishop expressed it six years ago.
Julie Bishop now says attacks on Julia Gillard were grotesque and brutal. Did she say anything at the time? No. Did she tell her awful LNP colleagues to hold back? No. Leadership is acting when you have the power to change things, not when you haven’t. #auspol
— Eddy Jokovich (@EddyJokovich) August 13, 2019
Julie Bishop, who stood on the shoulders of feminists while refusing to call herself a feminist, is loudly lamenting the lack of female empowerment in the party where she had a leadership role for over a decade.
Excuse me while I don't take that seriously at all. #auspol
— Rachel Baker (@RachelBkr) August 13, 2019
There is no doubt that Julie Bishop is articulate, poised and capable however all of this matters nothing in the face of what she didn't do for the promotion of women.
There is no point blowing your feminist horn now you are no longer in power
Opportunity gone 👎#InterviewAU— The Salty Sardine (@SaltySardine11) August 13, 2019
And what did Julie Bishop think of the sexist abuse of Julia Gillard by alpha-male Liberal & media thugs? Did she speak out against the ongoing LNP misogyny? …. Way past time to ask Bishop some tough questions – or is she now a feminist saint beyond questioning?
— Tacitus (@Plinyone) August 13, 2019
Julie Bishop does not have one ounce of credibility when it comes to this issue. She is an absolute disgrace and was just as complicit as the other members of her party in vilifying women and making women’s lives harder. She belongs under the rocks that the rest crawled from.
— Jarvis Kelly (@jarvok01) August 13, 2019
Though claiming to support equal opportunities for women, Bishop has strongly and repeatedly denied being a feminist, demonstrating a fundamental misunderstanding of what a feminist is. Further, until recently, Bishop had a history of toeing her red shoes at the party line when it came to accusations of Liberal Party misogyny.
Notably, Bishop defended Abbott against then-Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s famous misogyny speech in 2016, calling for Gillard to withdraw it and apologise “to the many women in Tony Abbot’s life”.
“Julia Gillard occupies the most powerful and privileged position in Australia and when she claims to be a victim, when she’s in that position, what does that say to the vulnerable women in Australia, what does that say to the women who really are subjected to attacks of misogyny?” said Bishop at the time, remarks which she has since stood by.
Bishop’s apparent claim that powerful women can’t be subject to sexism is certainly interesting, considering how much of last night’s interview with Denton concerned sexism levelled against herself.
Julie Bishop was today years old when she discovered sexism.
— Arnica Mullins (@Lady_Arnica) August 13, 2019
Perhaps Bishop is more willing to call out sexism now that she’s retired from politics, as the consequences for her personally won’t be as dire. Perhaps, given time, distance and reflection, she’s genuinely grown as a person. It may seem unlikely, but miracles happen every day.
Either way, it’s a shame Bishop didn’t put her position of power to better use a long time ago.