When Australian Agricultural Company chief executive David Farley suggested our Prime Minister should “watch out”, while describing how unproductive old cows would be automatically processed in his new abattoir plans, it felt like gender equality in the business community, any community, had been tugged further away.
Apparently his comment was met with laughter. And that’s as much of the problem as the fact he said it in the first place. Surely this would qualify as being politically incorrect, regardless of your political persuasion?
There are many taboos these days, as a certain bank discovered when it aired an ad suggesting a bomb in a backpack during the London Olympics. Terrorism is out, so is racism, ageism and any kind of disability. And fair enough too. But why is it still deemed acceptable in any circles to be sexist?
A friend recently sent me a note to say how proud she was of my career achievements and that I was a positive inspiration for her teenage daughter. She remarked that she had never once heard me complain about my job or my life, even though there were times when it was more struggle than juggle.
It’s true. I have chosen this path for myself and the joy that my career provides is the reason that I have willingly pursued the juggle that is my life. I have nothing to complain about. My life choices make me truly happy. But I’d like to believe that the past 25 years of hard work and constant work/life juggle have contributed to an increased standing of women in business. Surely the collective efforts and achievements of women in the workforce must have impacted our national psyche in some way?
And yet here we are in 2012 with a farmer using the woman who has reached our highest office as the butt of a joke. We can’t allow that to go unnoticed. We mustn’t allow comments like this to become part of the watercooler gossip and giggle. We owe it to ourselves and our daughters to say: enough.