Tanya Plibersek on Mental As Anyone podcast: Why feminism is good for men too

A trailblazing federal minister says feminism is important to all sides of politics and all genders.

Trailblazing MP Tanya Plibersek says feminism is good for blokes too.

The federal minister has spoken of her pride in the fact Australian parliament has reached a 50/50 gender split ahead of Labor’s 2025 schedule.

“It (feminism) is about people having the choice to pursue the life that they want to pursue and not to be locked out of choices because of their gender,” Plibersek said in the latest episode of the Mental As Anyone podcast.

“We got there at the last election, and I’m really proud of that, because feminism, for me, is not just how you look after yourself and saying I deserve my share of the spoils. It is actually about changing society so that there aren’t structural barriers for men or women to achieving what they want to achieve and that’s been really important for women, but I think it’s actually also incredibly liberating for men not to be bound by really strict gender stereotypes as well.”

Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Plibersek has been a Member of Parliament since 1998 and has served in ministerial roles under the Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard prime ministerships.

The mother-of-three is now the Environment and Water Minister under Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek in Rosebery. Picture: NewsWire / Gaye Gerard

“I really do think it shouldn’t be the case that you have to have women in a workplace to sort of civilise it, but I do genuinely think our workplace culture changed when we had a critical mass of women in the place, because women are trained from birth, raised to be aware of how the people around them are coping and to look out for the people around them,” she said.

“And when you get a critical mass of that happening, it does change the culture of an organisation.”

Plibersek, 55, also praised former political staffer Brittany Higgins for helping change the culture when she came forward with allegations of rape by a colleague in Parliament House in 2019.

Tanya Plibersek with daughter Anna and partner Michael Coutts-Trotter. Picture: Facebook

The allegations were proven true to the civil standard earlier this year but an appeal is ongoing.

“I think we’ve started to talk about it much more in recent years, and I think it’s really gone hand-in-hand with what happened to Brittany Higgins, and the way that the workplace responded to that, I think there was very quickly identified a need for better support for people who have been, in her case, sexually assaulted or sexually harassed at work, but that kind of grew into a better analysis of the need for support for people who’ve been bullied, or are struggling in other ways at work,” Plibersek explained.

“I think she’s (Higgins) made an incredible contribution to the parliament becoming a healthier workplace. It’s not the kind of problem that is solved yet, but at least it’s now a workplace that is examining its support structures and systems, putting systems in place to support people who’ve got a variety of different needs in the workplace.”

Minister Tanya Plibersek in Canberra. Picture: Adam Taylor

Elsewhere in the Mental As Anyone interview, Plibersek spoke of her own tough times, most notably when her brother was murdered in 1997 while conceding everyone doubts themself at some point.

“The only people who don’t occasionally get impostor syndrome are sociopaths, that’s life. It is about how you manage not to let doubt cripple you.”

She also spoke of the government’s recently passed world leading legislation that will see an age limit of 16 imposed on social media use.

“I’m not a prude, but I reckon if kids are watching choking and [violent] sex before they’ve had their first kiss with a real human being, that is going to impact what they think a healthy sexual or romantic relationship looks like and I’m worried about that,” she said.

“What people do when they’re adults is one thing, but raising a generation to think that unless sex is violent and degrading, it’s not exciting, is really problematic.”

* A new episode of Mental As Anyone drops on Thursday at 6am.