Politics

Let Me Remind You: Parliament Has A Long History Of Interrupting, Ignoring, And Belittling Women

Respect? For women? Never heard of her.

by Rashna Farrukh  11 November 2020
women parliament

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After yesterday’s display of respect towards women by the Prime Minister (sarcasm), I decided the best use of my time would be to compile other instances in which female politicians have been very respected (sarcasm) in parliament.

Let’s begin with the freshest, to jog your memory and get your blood pumping.

Scott Morrison interrupting Anne Ruston who was about to answer a question on being a woman and working in parliament

The question just answers itself, honestly.

Every single government frontbencher turning their back on Tanya Plibersek while she was speaking

Plibersek was fighting for young people who would be affected by the government’s plans to raise fees for higher education.

“Year 12s have had a year from hell this year and right now, one in three young people is looking for a job or looking for more hours of work. It is the very worst time to be making it harder to get an education,” she said.

Deborah O’Neill being interrupted repeatedly in the Senate while talking about the effect of COVID-19 on women

Maybe if they stopped interrupting and started listening, the Budget wouldn’t have overlooked women to the extent it did.

Penny Wong delivers this incredible comeback after having had enough of serial interrupter, Ian Macdonald

Wait till the end, it’s worth it.

All the men walking out as Julia Banks delivered her speech announcing she’s leaving the Liberal party due to bullying and sexism

Ironic.

Unlike those men, you should listen to her full speech below:

This sort of behaviour is not just limited to the chambers, where it does get much worse, especially at the notoriously loud and disorderly Question Time — where 99% of those warned, and 85% of those who have received disciplinary actions for their behaviour have been men.

In Senate estimates, where ministers and public servants are questioned about government spending, women are more negatively interrupted than their male colleagues. This limits women’s ability to do their job effectively, like you’ll see below.

Men interrupting literally every woman in the room at a Senate hearing

And the audacity of the chair to then demand that HE not be interrupted when HE interrupted in the first place.

And the issue is of course not limited to federal parliament. Here’s a gem to remind us of that fact.

The NSW Minister for Health attacks and name-calls the female opposition leader

He calls her a “goose”, “pork chop” and “stupid,” leaving her to request that he stop attacking her.

Saved the worst for last. Sorry for ruining your day folks.