Our female PM- Moving us forwards or backwards?

One of the most common sentiments I come across when researching feminism and sexism in Australia today is that “now that we have a female prime minister, female state premiers and a female governor-general women should just get over it and get on with life the way everyone else has too”. However, I fail to see how having one female prime minister following 26 male prime ministers is really such a victory.

I admit that on the 24^th of June 2010 when it was declared that Julia Gillard had been elected unopposed I was probably one of the most excited people in the country. I sat glued to the television the entire day, later watched her being sworn-in by Governor General Quentin Bryce, followed the election campaign, stayed awake for the vote count, and finally skipped class to watch the announcement by the independents on who they would side with to form a minority government.

I may have been more excited than anyone to see Australia finally taking the step forward in having a female prime minister but it turned out not be the progress I’d been hoping for. Instead, it only revealed to me the extent to which women are still treated as “the weaker sex” in this country.

In the lead up to the election where one could usually expect fierce debate in the media, we were instead bombarded with useless articles and air time about the colour of her hair, the length of her ear lobes and the fact that she was unmarried and childless. How any of this impacted on Gillard’s ability or inability to run a country, I am still trying to figure out.

The way that Gillard took power of the ALP also played out incessantly in the media. Since June, I have had countless conversations where I have protested the “backstabbing bitch” insult used to describe Ms Gillard, reasoning that what Gillard did took strength and conviction- the exact qualities that we should want in a PM regardless of their gender.

Although the parties themselves were responsible for much of the simplification of the election campaign, the media should also be called upon to justify their poor coverage. Standing in the election booth; it wasn’t hair colour, sex, or choice of swimming attire that decided my vote but important policies of which I had been able to read little about. Even now in the media, Ms Gillard is rarely referred to by her proper title but instead simply called “Julia”- as though she doesn’t fit the idea of what a real Prime Minister should be.

The really sad part of this whole story though it that it isn’t just the right-wing media to blame. It’s the everyday people that still refuse to believe a woman can have the same capacity to lead a country. I even know of many ALP-supporting women who refused to vote for Labor in the election for no other reason than the fact the leader happened to be born with two x chromosomes.

The whole saga has only gone to show that women haven’t advanced nearly as far as what others would have us believe. Having a female prime minister means almost nothing for the feminist cause without support and respect from the people. If anything, I think it has only pushed us backwards by making the feminist movement seem more outdated than it in fact is.