The former Prime Minister Julia Gillard has talked about the significance of having a supportive relationship with other female leaders across party lines. Speaking on The Diane Rehm Show, a syndicated US radio program, yesterday she said this.
One of the things about being a leader in today’s world as a woman is that there aren’t that many others. You go to the G20 meeting — and I did go to a number of G20 meetings — and there are a few women there, Angela Merkel, the chancellor of Germany, of course, [and] Madame Lagarde, Christine Lagarde, head of the IMF, and a few other women. But you’re still in the minority,” Gillard said. “Because of that, when we do get the opportunity to say what’s it like for you, even across party lines… there is some common and shared experiences about being judged on appearance, about often being in rooms where you’re the only woman, about not being treated instinctively with the same sense of seriousness or the view that you all have the same gravitas as a male leader.
Gillard said there is a subtle difference between the question that male and female political leaders are asked to address.
“For men, that conversation starts with what kind of leader will he be, you know, strong, weak, compassionate, strident. I think for women, it starts with, can she lead? And it’s a subtle but significant difference,” Gillard said.
It’s subject matter she said she’s discussed with Hillary Clinton and other female world leaders. When asked by host Susan Page whether there is growing acceptance among female leaders to identify sexism, Gillard was frank.
“I hope so. For individual women in the moment, there’s always this really difficult judgment call — and this is true whether you’re in the highly exposed world of politics or whether you work in a business or, you’re at a university and all sorts of settings — there’s that judgment in the moment of do you name it, or do you just put up with it?”
Initially Gillard’s strategy was to ignore it but as time went on she changed her mind. She said her misogyny speech in parliament was the first fiery moment that came to light.
“Increasingly, I did think that I needed to point to and shine a light on sexism.”