Have you seen the Prime Minister in person? If you have then you know this – Prime Minister Gillard is quite slender. She’s also quite pretty. Her looks would be irrelevant except that everything about her, including her appearance, has been represented in the media in such an incredibly hostile manner that you’ll be genuinely taken aback when you meet her. And it’s depressing, as a woman, to see this for yourself – the contrast between the Prime Minister as she appears, in person, and how you think she looks based on her appearance in the media. Because, as a woman watching the first female Prime Minister in this country, you can’t help but think about how your own physical imperfections would be seen and magnified were you ever to dare contemplate a public position of power. All politicians get the unflattering caricature treatment and we’re routinely suspicious of politicians, sure, but what we’ve seen with Gillard is truly something else - refresh your memory with Anne Summers’ Her Rights At Work (the R rated version), if you need to. Seeing this woman being picked on mercilessly for her appearance sends a message to you.
The significance of the Prime Minister’s misogyny speech was about this for women. It was about watching the most powerful woman in the country endure a type of sexism that you, yourself, have experienced. And seeing her summon the courage and the outrage to finally confront it was a powerful moment because you wanted to see that it is possible to confront sexism and survive it. So now, watching the Prime Minister be continually ridiculed and disrespected, and on such a scale, you have to wonder, is she surviving?
As Summers says in her latest article, “PM’s critics make a mockery of political debate”:
Such is the confidence of the journalists and shock-jocks and others who peddle these opinions, that they see no need to wait for history to happen. Why bother waiting for the actual voters to actually vote when these pundits have persuaded themselves that already it’s all over? As a result, they feel no obligation to respect the person, let along the office of prime minister, since in their minds she is already gone.
So they feel free to mock her in ways that would have been inconceivable with other leaders and, as recently as a year ago, even with her.
Gillard has always had to put up with intense, often unfair and sometimes cruel commentary about her clothes, her voice, even her body shape. As I have documented, since she became Prime Minister Gillard has been subjected to vile sexual and at times pornographic vilification of a kind that is new to our political vocabulary (and which still continues).
But now there is a new element. The pundits are scoffing and mocking her every action, from her new glasses to every policy or political step she takes, as if to say: why bother, lady, it’s all over anyway.
A colleague who is proudly conservative told me the other day that he knows he’s biased but this Prime Minister is not representing my gender well. Before you say anything, he said, you’re biased too. How about how your gender is being represented, I said. Alright, I’ve got my issues with some of this government’s policies (although I still think they’re quite an effective government), but for crying out loud, I said, I’m half the fricking gender of this country and it is 2013 and this is the first time, the very first time, I’ve had a woman to represent my gender, at all, as Prime Minister. So yes, I take it personally when she is treated with such disdain and, yes, I’m a little biased, but can you fricking blame me?
Relentlessly mocking the country’s first female Prime Minister in such a dubious fashion is damaging to us as a nation. If you are participating in the mockery you need to take a moment to reflect. Maybe you’ll decide that your mockery is no less than you would give any other politician you disliked, maybe you’ll decide it’s completely absent of any sexism – fine, but in this climate of extreme hatred towards a woman in power you need to at least think about it.
Exactly this. I was at an event that the Prime Minister attended on Monday, and that’s exactly, exactly what went through my mind.
I so agree. I feel very stressed too that she is under so much pressure at the moment – it will be such a blow to women if a) she is challenged and loses the leadership, ignominiously or b) she loses the election and Tony Abbott is PM.
If/when that happens I will be so upset and I know lots of women will be too, however imperfect she has been as PM and Labor has been in govt.
I wish there was a way that women could tell her NOW, when she needs the fortitude and support in the face of all this mockery and misogyny, what her strength means to us. Instead of when she has lost.
Would love any ideas you had on this.
X
Also, she doesn’t represent my gender. She represents my country.
The PM has a FB page and a Twitter account if you have either of those.
Don’t know if you get the Danish drama Borgen in Australia, but it’s been a (quiet) hit here in the UK and it deals with the trials and tribulations of a woman prime minister. It might be fictionalised but is pretty thought-provoking for any working woman. Since politics is generally pretty rough, it allows you to see laid bare exactly what can be said about women at the top – sometimes these things are not said openly, but are joked about in private.
I’m very sad and disillusioned about it all. It’s terrible really. I do believe her treatment received would be very different we’re she a man. It’s almost given a free pass for sexism as those who would mock her do it under the guise of some equality for mocking politicians generally.
It says so much more about the sad state of the media than it does about this particular Prime Minister. I simply will not listen to or read anything about polls. It’s made up, pretend, lazy news. It’s not about anything and it’s absolutely ridiculous how much airtime & column space is given over to this tripe.
I think part of the problem is women dress up, they wear jewelry, colours etc., and therefore open up themselves to criticism more than the men in their grey suits ever would. And while I hate that female politicians get criticized over appearances, I wish Julia Gillard wouldn’t try so hard for the feminine conservative look uniform with pearls, jackets, etc., which doesn’t suit her or her style, and stick to more simple, edgy clothes and jewelry – not to deflect male criticism, but because the style she is currently wearing seems so little her, which I guess is part of the problem of her whole media persona and why people turn off her (not I, I couldn’t care less, I only care about policies). You don’t see Penny Wong getting criticized for her clothes, do you? That’s because she is effortlessly comfortable in her masculine attire, this is HER…or maybe that’s only because she conforms to the male stereotype uniform??
You think that Penny Wong wouldn’t be copping an absolutely ridiculous torrent of abuse based on her looks, clothes, race, and sexuality if she was Prime Minister? She isn’t criticised as heavily or as often simply because she isn’t in the top job. A quick google reveals “Penny Wong looks like a dark haired, tanned Kevin Rudd”, “she looks like a man in mans clothing”, “Penny Wong looks like a man hooker”, “Penny wong looks like a bloke”, “Do you think that Penny Wong looks like a Chinese Kevin Rudd? “, “wong actually looks like a troll for real dont cha think? ugly mongrel looking thing”, “Penny wong looks like the “guy” in the relationship.”… and I stopped there.
Women don’t bring on their own abuse by wearing the wrong clothes. Ever.
Good post. I have often wondered how I would cope with all that scrutiny of my appearance, dress, hair and EVEN EARLOBES. Surely any of us would be bound to be found wanting as a result.
Yeah, I agree it’s despicable. For me, there’s a simple filter to apply to work out whether some media coverage or commentary is relevant: is this to do with policy? Even though that might sound humourless, it’s actually made me more resolved to apply this filter to the politicians I don’t agree with as much as the ones I do.
The barrage Julia Gillard has copped is absolutely dispiriting. But I bloody admire her fortitude in the face of all of this. And I think I would rather let her know of my admiration rather than pity.