Talking Up a Legacy by Tom Clark

Author:Tom Clark
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: UWA Publishing

6

Julia Gillard, a mother of dragons

Julia Gillard at Faulconbridge, 2017. Photograph by John Merriman

Creative Commons 2.0 licence by Blue Mountains Library

WATCHING MICHELLE OBAMA’S denunciation of Donald Trump’s misogyny during the 2016 United States presidential election campaign, then watching Hillary Rodham Clinton’s defeat at the hands of said misogynist, it was hard not to draw parallels with Australia’s one experience of a woman as prime minister: her apparently powerful naming of sexism and sexists, which ultimately proved not so powerful that it prevented their electoral victory.

The fact is that in this election, we have a candidate for president of the United States who, over the course of his lifetime and the course of this campaign, has said things about women that are so shocking, so demeaning that I simply will not repeat anything here today. And last week, we saw this candidate actually bragging about sexually assaulting women. And I can’t believe that I’m saying that a candidate for president of the United States has bragged about sexually assaulting women.

And I have to tell you that I can’t stop thinking about this. It has shaken me to my core in a way that I couldn’t have predicted. So while I’d love nothing more than to pretend like this isn’t happening, and to come out here and do my normal campaign speech, it would be dishonest and disingenuous of me to just move on to the next thing like this was all just a bad dream.

This is not something that we can ignore. It’s not something we can just sweep under the rug as just another disturbing footnote in a sad election season. Because this was not just a ‘lewd conversation’. This wasn’t just locker-room banter. This was a powerful individual speaking freely and openly about sexually predatory behavior, and actually bragging about kissing and groping women, using language so obscene that many of us were worried about our children hearing it when we turn on the TV.

And to make matters worse, it now seems very clear that this isn’t an isolated incident. It’s one of countless examples of how he has treated women his whole life. And I have to tell you that I listen to all of this and I feel it so personally, and I’m sure that many of you do too, particularly the women. The shameful comments about our bodies. The disrespect of our ambitions and intellect. The belief that you can do anything you want to a woman.1

Julia Gillard’s prime ministership was, in many ways, defined by gender. It was a dominant theme in much of the acclaim for Gillard’s ascension to power, as it was in much of the opposition to her government. As many commentators have noted, Gillard endured derogatory ad hominem attacks much more frequently than Australia’s other – all male – prime ministers, with many of these attacks centring on her clothes, appearance, family life and femininity (or supposed lack thereof).

Gillard was well aware of the gendered discourse surrounding her time as prime minister.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.