When the community’s mistreatment of Julia Gillard reached such a point that Alan Jones could make a nasty comment about Gillard’s late father and face no consequences, acclaimed journalist and broadcaster Geraldine Doogue decided it was time to do something.
This morning, at the last Network Central breakfast before it is handed over to us at Women’s Agenda, Doogue explained that it was watching our former prime minister endure persistent attacks on her legitimacy based on her gender that inspired her to write her new book, The Climb: Conversations with women in power.
“I was extremely angry with the turn of events. I was in a useless fury, and I needed to do something with the emotions I was feeling on behalf of our prime minister,” she said.
“So many women were demoralised by what happened to her. I thought to myself, somebody has got to do something. So I asked myself, what can I personally do?” Doogue explained.
As a woman who has had a long and decorated career in the media, Doogue decided to use the medium she had always used to wield her own influence: the written word.
Doogue spent 11 years as the host of Radio National’s Life Matters program and has also hosted ABC TV’s Compass and Radio National’s Saturday Extra. She received a United Nations Peace Prize and an Order of Australia award in 2003.
With a lifetime’s experience in storytelling behind her, Doogue decided to write a book telling the stories of women in power who have not experienced the type of vitriol our former prime minister did; women who have wielded influence in Australia without having their authority and legitimacy undermined by the Australian public.
“Rather than do a series of laments about women in power, I wanted to write about who has done it well. I want to tell those stories,” she said.
“As journalists we often spend all of our time listing the things that have gone wrong. In fact, bad news is part of our brief.”
“But I wanted to tell some good news; I wanted to talk about what has gone right. In my experience as a journalist,good news makes for good stories, too. So I decided to write a book about all the good news, about all the women who have managed to wield and hold power in Australia.”
Doogue decided to collate interviews with dozens of the most influential women in Australian life. The conversations tell these women’s stories about ambition, failure and lessons learned from the struggle to be granted legitimacy and authority in Australian public life.
Doogue also reflected on a personal experience she shared with Gillard back when she was deputy prime minister as a formative moment in her decision to write the book.
“Gillard said to me, ‘I want to be able to draw up the bridge at the end of the day and still be able to recognise myself’,” Doogue recounted.
Doogue decided she wanted her book to tell stories of women in power from this perspective: Who are the women in power in Australia, and how do they manage to overcome the roadblocks they face and still recognise themselves at the end of the day?
Doogue witnessed the discrimination Gillard faced and decided she could not accept it, so she undertook her own project to try and make a difference. What has she learned in the process?
During her speech this morning, Doogue shared this advice to keep in mind.
1. Don’t be afraid to decide not to be a leader. She emphasised that it is important to understand that not every woman has to aspire to be like the women in the book, because every woman’s career journey is different. “Don’t be afraid to strive to be a really, really great follower,” she said. “It’s okay not to aspire to power and influence, the only important thing is that you aspire to be exactly what you want to be.”
2. Seek out supportive women. Doogue recalled something Gloria Steinem said to her in an interview: “As lone operators, women will only achieve in the margins. We need critical mass,” Steinem said to Doogue. “I think she’s dead right,” Doogue said. She said it is important to seek the support of like-minded women along the journey and remind ourselves we do not have to climb the ladder alone.
3. Be yourself. She said her favourite quote comes from Oscar Wilde: “Be yourself. Everyone else is taken.” “I just love it,” Doogue said. She said the most important thing to remember is to be true to yourself in your ambitions, and make sure that like Gillard, you can always recognise yourself at the end of the day.
Doogue said she has been approached by so many young women for advice since the book was published that she might even write a second one dedicated to the lessons she has learned about women in power in Australia. We look forward to reading it!