Australian Politics Make History: Two Senior Female Politicians Going Head to Head for Top Spot
Hey Chicks!
Big things going on with women in politics in the world down under! So grab a vegemite sandwich and Fosters, and check this out…
IT’S the Go Girl election: two female deputy leaders, a record number of women in the House of Reps and the most women ever holding ministerial jobs.
Labor’s deputy leader Julia Gillard and new Liberal deputy Julie Bishop embody the sacrifices women have to make to get to the top. They are both childless and unmarried.
And their elevation continues the me too-ism of the election campaign, almost down to the detail of their names: Julia and Julie.
Both will be responsible for the industrial relations portfolio, although Gillard will have the added responsibility of education.
We will witness a spectacle never seen in Australian politics: two senior female politicians going head to head.
Already they are at war with each other after the expensively and very well-dressed Ms Bishop earlier this year criticised Ms Gillard for behaving like a fashion model or a television star in her attempt to get media attention.
Ms Gillard hit back, accusing Ms Bishop of being the mistress of the trivial issue.
Labor MPs call Ms Bishop “the prefect in pearls” - a comment on her polished, practised parliamentary style.
The child of cherry growers, her grandfather and mother were both local mayors and now Ms Bishop is the partner of former Perth Lord Mayor Peter Nattrass - their 10-year relationship began after she divorced husband Neil Gillon.
Ms Bishop is a high-flying lawyer who has been education minister and minister for aging and she has been considered a leadership contender for both state and federal politics for some time.
The other women who have risen to the top in this election include Australia’s first lesbian minister - South Australian Senator Penny Wong, heavily promoted to be in charge of the climate change and water portfolios that Kevin Rudd says are core business for his government.
Ms Wong was born in Sabah, Malaysia, and moved to Adelaide when she was eight. She boasts that she is the first Asian-born woman to enter federal parliament.
A lawyer who worked for the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union and an adviser to the Carr Government on forests policy, Ms Wong was Labor’s campaign spokeswoman during the 2007 election.
Senator Wong has a demonstrated ability to nail the political argument on the workforce and government responsibilities she represented as a shadow minister, and helped make government advertising a killer political issue.
New Health Minister Nicola Roxon is also a lawyer, a former associate to a High Court judge and the mother of a toddler.
She is engaged to former Labor staffer Michael Kerrisk, who has taken on childcaring duties while working as communications adviser to the State Services Authority in Victoria.
As health minister, Ms Roxon will have an insight into the pharmaceutical area of her portfolio - she is the daughter of a pharmacist and spent much of her teenage years working at the family business.
Kate Ellis, just 30, becomes the youngest-ever federal minister following her first term in parliament. She has been given the job of youth and sport minister because of her youth.
The Adelaide MP studied international relations at university and has worked as a research officer for state and federal MPs and as an adviser to two South Australian ministers, including Deputy Premier Kevin Foley.
Labor’s housing and status of women minister Tanya Plibersek is a mother of two and married to Michael Coutts-Trotter, the head of the NSW Department of Education.
Despite these achievements, the feminisation of Australian politics is proceeding at an incremental pace in world terms.
And despite an increase in the number of women MPs in the 2007 election, they still make up about one quarter only of the House of Representatives.
There will be between 38 and 40 women in the House of Representatives in the new parliament, depending on the results in two close seats.
This is up from the 35 women in the previous parliament, but at this rate of increase it will take another nine elections before we approach equal representation.
That means it could be 2034 before women make up half the nation’s parliament.
But, although still small in number, women in this parliament will have more senior roles than ever before.
The way in which they perform is likely to have an impact on the ever-so-slow pace of change.
Go, Chicks, go! Big step for women in Australia and although they are not making as much progress in politics as they would like, they ARE making progress! We have a long way to go in the U.S., too, but we’re better off than we were even just 20 years ago!
Cheers to Chicks!
Lisa
Lisa Orrell, Chief Chick of Chickonomics, is a professional speaker and author who strives to educate chicks, society, and the business world about essential evolutions in women's issues, and gender relations, that impact all of us.