Why the globe went gaga for Gillard

JULIA Gillard's speech has gone viral because it's been a bad year for sexist comments against women, writes Wendy Tuohy.

WHATEVER you think about Julia Gillard's decision not to back the call for Peter Slipper's sacking, you must congratulate her on the timing, delivery of and comprehensive list of examples in what CNN is calling her 'smoking hot' sexism speech.

Because, whether through luck or planning, her striking anti-misogyny tirade has acted as a lightning rod for all the volts of static over sexist treatment of women that have built up in the atmosphere—political, social and in online forums—all year.

Just look at the headlines here and overseas for evidence it hasn‘t been a great 12 months.

Some local examples: A Channel Nine reporter, Jayne Azzopardi has insults such as “there are some ladies here to stick their heads in your pants” and ‘’s--- me off, you dumb dog’‘ yelled at her allegedly by players/staff while reporting at the Canterbury Bulldogs NRL club on the recent Mad Monday.

The Anglican Church, traditionally regarded as being more progressive in its attitudes to women, introduces a wedding vow requiring wives to “submit” to husbands. In comments, Sydney’s Anglican Arch Bishop, Peter Jensen, says “a certain egalitarianism” has crept into Australian society and it is “unhelpful and wrong”.

Alan Jones writes off the contribution of Australian women in influential positions as “destroying the joint” and says “there isn’t a chaff bag big enough” (to drop them in the ocean in).

A couple of AFL players dismiss a fan’s request for a photo at Melbourne airport with “we’re saving ourselves for the hot chicks” and “we should have a no fat chicks clause in our contracts”.

A “rising tide of maternity discrimination” is noted by the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission, after a Melbourne barmaid is sacked for being pregnant because “it’s not a good look” and “patrons don’t want to be served by a pregnant woman”.

Kyle Sandilands calls a young woman writer a ”fat slag”, slags off her small breasts and threatens to “hunt her down’’ (he is punished with 15 minutes’ decency training and keeps his job).

And just to name a couple of high-profile, recent, foreign examples; In the US, Republican Senate hopeful Todd Akin declares that in cases of “legitimate rape” women don’t get pregnant, because their body “shuts it down”.
Presidential candidate, Mitt Romney, uses promises to fight women’s access to fertility control by vowing to cut funding to national family planning group, Planned Parenthood, if he wins office.

And in England, prominent British MP, George Galloway, says not asking for consent to have sex with someone if they’re asleep may be “bad sexual etiquette” but “not everybody needs to be asked prior to every insertion” and “whatever it is, it’s not rape”. Plenty more examples can be found, but you get the idea.

It may be that we’re just more aware of retrograde attitudes to, and treatment of, women such as these due to the outrage that spreads quickly and loudly via social media. Or perhaps ugly economic times bring out uglier attitudes.
Either way, the frequency with which statements and events which demean women have crossed our radar recently has been disturbing.

This may in part explain why seeing one, strong woman call sexist attitudes for what they are, and demand an end to it, struck such an echoing chord, locally and globally.

Dozens of mainstream foreign newspapers and current affairs commentary websites have repeated, aghast, examples of sexism as cited in the Prime Minister’s speech, such as “abortion is the easy way out”, women are less suited to leadership positions than men, and it isn’t necessarily a bad thing fewer women reach positions of seniority.

Of course, most of the foreign coverage gave little space to the fact that the Prime Minister and her party stood by their chosen Speaker after his vile, woman-hating text rants.

So the celebration of Julia Gillard’s gall ("the best thing you’ll see all day” and “epic” according to one of the most popular international female-focused websites, Jezebel) was not as tinged with disappointment as it was for many women here.

But, murky political context aside, the Prime Minister’s own list of examples was very damning of views still held by sections of Australia. And the reason women celebrated is because she has a point.

Read more from Wendy at The Perch