Tory Shepherd: The Prime Minister is treating attacks on women as a women’s issue, to avoid risking votes
In his press conference to announce his new Cabinet, Scott Morrison said the word ‘women’ 102 times, and ‘men’ just three. There’s a reason, writes Tory Shepherd.
Opinion
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There’s a rather large manhole in the new focus on women. Prime Minister Scott Morrison took to his courtyard lectern to announce the ministry reshuffle this week.
It was an opportunity to strip Christian Porter of the Attorney-General portfolio after historical rape allegations were made against him – he denies those allegations and is suing the ABC for defamation over its reporting of them. It’s messy.
It was also a way to punish former defence minister Linda Reynolds, who called ex-staffer Brittany Higgins (who has also made rape allegations against a former colleague) a “lying cow”. A terrible thing to say, of course, but not as terrible as actions by others that have gone unpunished.
And, of course, it was part of the attempted “reset” to quell women’s anger at myriad revelations about men behaving badly in federal parliament and elsewhere. An attempt to show Mr Morrison “gets it”.
The word “women” was used 102 times in that press conference. The word “men” just three times.
There’s the manhole, an attempt to cover over the crappy truth. That while it’s good and it’s definitely past time to elevate women and issues of women’s safety, he really doesn’t want to put men down.
It’s much more manageable if the rape and assault of women is a perpetrator-less crime. So, the actual perpetrators of most sexual assaults get camouflaged.
Because to name “men”, to put “men” back into the conversation, risks losing the votes of those men. And not just those men.
Because many men (not all men) think that pointing out the fact that perpetrators are usually male is an attack on all men. It would just be nicer for them all around if men could be left out, and the PM obliges. So, women’s issues become just women’s issues.
Get women to deal with women’s issues as though parliament has some sort of secret women’s business. It’s so much easier if we can focus on the new female-focused portfolios and ignore all the bulls in the room.
It was also a neat trick by Mr Morrison to pluck out social media as an area for change.
“One of the key degraders of respect in our country is social media. I can tell you a big part of my response to this will be ongoing work in the area of e-safety and on social media,” he said.
Sure, there’ll be action on sexual harassment in the workplace, and it’s looking likely there’ll be a focus on women in the upcoming Budget, but social media will be a big part of it.
Social media can be vile, and can lead to real-life dangers for women.
But going after trolls who abuse women on Facebook and Twitter and the rest means you get to focus on anonymous, faceless men. Not, say, the ones who hold critical votes in marginal seats.
There will be a women’s task force and all sorts of other womanly things.
Senator Marise Payne, the Minister for Women, stood alongside him as he announced the many little shifts and job title changes.
“She is, effectively, amongst her female colleagues, the Prime Minister for Women, holding the prime, ministerial responsibilities in this area as the minister for women,” he said.
A journalist challenged him: “Prime Minister, you’ve called Senator Payne the Prime Minister for Women, but aren’t you the women’s Prime Minister? Are you not fit to do the job of Prime Minister?”
Ah, shoosh, he said. He meant to say the “primary” minister for women. Yet he left the impression that he was the Prime Minister for Men, and Senator Payne was there for the ladies.
There’s now the dismaying notion that only women can be the moral arbiters of all that’s been happening to them, and worse.
That those women, with their shiny new job titles, might be left carrying the can if this keeps carrying on.
That because men can’t bear to point at other men as being responsible for the atrocities, women will end up being held responsible.
They’ll be the ones chucked down the manhole, in the end.
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