Gladys’ win revealed the truth about feminists
The historic victory for the first woman elected premier of NSW should have been toasted by so-called “progressives”. Instead, the feminist brigade showed their true colours, writes Caroline Marcus.
As the first woman to be elected premier of NSW, Gladys Berejiklian should be a feminist icon, feted by the sisterhood.
What’s more, as the daughter of Armenian immigrants and a graduate of the public school system, her meteoric rise to the top should be downright toasted by those on the Left.
So why is it that many feminists left the champagne untouched on the weekend, either begrudgingly congratulating her for her historic victory or outright disparaging her?
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After all, by the time her four-year term ends, the NSW Liberals will have been in power for the longest period since the party was formed in the mid-1940s.
That’s no small achievement.
Could it be because Berejiklian’s election is proof women don’t need patronising quotas to shatter glass ceilings?
Could it be because her win contradicts the Labor battle cry that the Liberal party has a “woman problem”?
Perhaps it’s because the premier herself has flatly refused to exploit the gender card during her tenure, while the same can’t be said for other feminist heroines like former prime minister Julia “I will not be lectured about sexism and misogyny by this man” Gillard?
In her victory speech, Berejiklian only fleetingly referred to her sex, noting she led “a state in which someone with a long surname — and a woman — can be the premier of NSW.”
She left it to others, like NSW treasurer Dominic Perrottet, to note the significance of the moment: “As a father of four young girls, it sends a great message to women and young girls right across the state. To have (a woman) elected as premier should inspire them to achieve their goals and hopes and dreams and I think that’s fantastic if it comes through from this evening.”
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The truth is the feminist brigade don’t want to see women in positions of power; to have their support, she must also be their progressive, identity politics-obsessed mirror image.
Leading the attack pack was Nine columnist Elizabeth Farrelly, who penned a piece before Berejiklian’s win titled, “Voting for Gladys Berejiklian is not a feminist act.”
Confoundingly, she tied in Berejiklian’s apparent failure to challenge the “white male club” — despite being a woman of colour (to borrow from woke lexicon) — with the conviction of George Pell and the Christchurch massacres.
It goes without saying that Farrelly was full of approbation for New Zealand’s Labour prime minister Jacinda Ardern, the same woman who — albeit with the very best intentions — donned a hijab in the wake of her country’s tragedy, the very symbol of male oppression of women.
“If feminism can’t blow these clubs open, if it doesn’t uphold merit as staunchly as Jacinda upholds compassion,” Farrelly wrote, “we’ll go on breeding these angry white boys until they shoot us all in the foot.”
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Meantime, feminist Jane Caro could not muster any enthusiasm for Berejiklian’s win on Saturday night.
“This is boring and depressing,” Caro tweeted, before lashing out at Mark Latham’s victory in the Upper House. “Ashamed to be a New South Welsh woman. Apologies to the rest of Australia.”
Ashamed to be a NSW woman on the same day we elected our first female premier?
Caro later offered qualified felicitations: “While I congratulate Gladys Berejiklian on her achievement, I voted against her (she is my local member). Just a heads up, feminism does not require I agree with every woman on the planet.”
Male feminists were no more gracious.
Benjamin Law served up on the same platform: “Anyway, I’m just grateful I was extremely drunk, surrounded by friends when the #NSWVotes2019 results came in; probably would’ve slowly and determinedly walked into open traffic otherwise.”
Self-described feminist Peter FitzSimons dedicated his weekend column in Nine papers to forecasting Berejiklian’s political demise before the next state election.
The Liberal party can’t win.
When it does back a woman, like former Notre Dame University vice chancellor Celia Hammond — who was preselected in Julie Bishop’s WA seat of Curtin — she is seen as too conservative, too Catholic.
Journalist Margo Kingston admonished Hammond for being “the hard right’s candidate” and for her position on climate change.
No doubt, her ilk would prefer as candidate foreign affairs specialist Erin Watson-Lynn, who described herself as a “non-Liberal voter” in 2013, has been critical of Tony Abbott and described Malcolm Turnbull as “sexy”.
Back to Berejiklian and it’s true: some on the Left were magnanimous in their praise.
Gillard herself tweeted: “In a world of far too few women leaders, I congratulate @GladysB on being the first woman to win a NSW election.”
Deputy opposition leader Tanya Plibersek honoured Berejiklian on a “historically significant win to see the first elected premier of NSW”.
Even Greens MP Sarah Hanson-Young, to her credit, tweeted that the premier’s achievement “is no small feat. The more women we have in politics, across all parties the better our democracy and parliaments will be.”
Amen. More of that, please.
Caroline Marcus is the host of Saturday Edition and Sunday Edition on Sky News.
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