Why the PM may have actually destroyed her chances with women - Women's Agenda

Why the PM may have actually destroyed her chances with women

Let’s be perfectly clear. If I choose to vote for Labor in the Federal election it won’t be because the leader is a woman. If Labor switches leaders but policies remain the same then there is every chance that my voting intention will remain the same.

Do I find the Liberals less appealing as a leadership group because the men wear blue ties? I actually hadn’t noticed. What I have noticed is the lack of focus on policy from either party this week. It’s time that both sides stopped playing girls germs, boys germs and started providing us with insights.

I absolutely admire Julia Gillard for reaching the pinnacle of her sector. I am inspired by women who make it to the very top of their chosen career. But I’m not a cult candidate. I don’t slavishly follow and believe in the teachings of those I admire. And most Australian women do not either. Which is why I felt sick in the pit of my stomach when I heard about ‘Women For Gillard‘.

To be honest I initially assumed it was Gillard and the posse of female bloggers she has arranged meetings with in the past. Certainly Women’s Agenda wasn’t invited to the party. But when I scanned the faces of the women standing proudly behind the PM wearing the Women For Gillard t-shirts I became confused. What on earth was this? Surely Gillard’s advisors couldn’t have got this so wrong. I was hoping to hear that she’d been invited to speak at an event and arrived to find a team of Gillard groupies. That may have been considered sweet.

The ‘Women For Gillard’ stunt was the talk of our office yesterday amongst women ranging in age from early twenties through to me at 47. No one thought the ‘Women For Gillard’ event was a good idea. No one. The most common reactions were: “Why would she do that?” and “what the hell was she thinking?”

Judgment is a key component to great leadership and I feel that the event and the uncharacteristically dumb speech that Gillard gave while there demonstrated a worrying lack of it. The entire point of pushing hard for female representation is to give women an equal chance in areas and industries where equality isn’t currently the status quo. It isn’t our desire to play girls versus boys. We want to join the boys in the game, standing shoulder-to-shoulder, collegiately. We don’t want our PM to pull out the gender card in a last ditched effort to win our votes.

I remain proud of Julia Gillard’s achievement at becoming Australia’s first-ever female PM, but that alone won’t do it for me. I will always vote for the party whose policies are best for our country.

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