A big yes to women, and a bigger yes to policies

You can only play the “our leader is a woman!” card for so long because the fact remains, the right policies will deliver you an election victory, regardless of which sex or class is pushing them, writes Lucy Zelic.

When Italy’s first female prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, addressed the Conservative Political Action Conference in February, there was no mistaking who or what she represented.

“Despite all the mud they throw at us, citizens keep voting for us,” she said. “They vote for us because we defend freedom, we love our nations, we want secure borders, we preserve businesses and citizens from the green leftist insanity.

“We defend family life, we fight wokeism, we protect our sacred right to our faith and our free speech, and we stand for common sense.”

For a country that has been plagued by theories from academics that its “long history of Catholicism has influenced maschilismo (the Italian term for toxic masculinity) and misogyny”, Italy’s election of a female raised a valid question.

Is it the gender or the policies that people are attracted to in politics?

This week, the Liberal Party created history when they elected their first female leader, Sussan Ley.

Not since the infamous misogyny speech given by Australia’s first female Prime Minster Julia Gillard have the Liberal Party been able to shake the tag that they have a “woman problem”.

“The government will not be lectured about sexism and misogyny by this man,” jeered Gillard, in reference to Tony Abbott.

The irony that it was said by a woman who wasn’t democratically elected, who rubber-stamped gender identity into the Sex Discrimination Act, isn’t lost on me.

And while the Labor caucus peacocks are still chirping over their election victory, those busy feasting on the Labor-lite diet from within the Liberal Party are looking more like feather dusters trying desperately to clean up their image.

Not since the infamous misogyny speech given by Australia’s first female Prime Minster Julia Gillard have the Liberal Party been able to shake the tag that they have a “woman problem”.

Never mind the “woman problem” – there are quite a few blokes masquerading as Liberals within the party that I have more of an issue with, and have contributed to the party’s identity crisis.

Take Victorian Liberal leader Brad Battin, who earlier this year told an interviewer there was “zero evidence” of him being a conservative. Oh no! Not the “c” word!

Both Battin and Queensland Premier David Crisafulli distanced themselves from Peter Dutton’s nuclear plan, with the latter also silencing parliamentary discussion around abortion in and refusing to lift the uranium mining ban.

How very green of them.

Peter Dutton as he says goodbye to Shadow Opposition Leader Sussan Ley following a Liberal Party rally on the campaign. Picture: Richard Dobson / NewsWire

In NSW, it’s clear that my six year-old has more of a spine than Lib leader Mark Speakman, who is nowhere to be found when it matters, and is more vanilla than a tub of Peters ice cream.

So did the “progressive” faction and bedwetters dragging down the Liberals yield to external pressure by appointing Ley? I hope not.

The tightness of the vote suggests there is still division within the party but only time will tell and at the very least, the highly-experienced Ley deserves a chance.

Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. Picture: AP

But don’t hold your breath if you’re holding out for a Meloni-style revolution here in Australia.

The challenge for the Liberals now is establishing a point of difference that isn’t simply electing a female leader and is focused on policies.

You can only play the “our leader is a woman!” card for so long because the fact remains, the right policies will deliver you an election victory, regardless of which sex or class is pushing them

Former United States Vice President Kamala Harris is the perfect example of how using women and minorities as a political prop can go terribly wrong.

Kamala Harris speaks during the 2024 White House Tribal Nations Summit. Picture: AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File

While cackling Kamala is still struggling to string a sentence together, Sleepy Joe Biden is convinced that she lost due to her gender – as though being a woman is somehow a disability and requires the crutch of a man experiencing cognitive decline.

If you truly want to know what progress for women looks like, it’s not parachuting them into positions because of their gender.

Despite what the radical left will tell you, it also doesn’t come in the form of encouraging late term abortion, allowing men to compete in women’s sports, arguing for liberalised prostitution, “freeing the nipple”, or renting your womb out in exchange for cash.

The feminist movement, which has morphed into a beast that Victor Frankenstein would be proud of, worked hard to establish a woman’s right to work, vote and an education.

Now it’s time we lean into the era of merit – because, as the 1983 Donna Summer hit goes, “she works hard for the money”. Not “she gets everything given to her on a silver platter”.