When you witness relentless, vicious attacks on Prime Minister Julia Gillard, as well as some of the atrocious rumours that have been circling the Internet, you have to wonder what it’s doing to the next generation of female politicians.
Why would anybody want to be subjected to a media cycle that often cares less about policy, and more about appearance, the tone of one’s voice and defamatory rumours regarding one’s past?
Yesterday, Gillard delivered a stunning response to repeated claims regarding her time at law firm Slater & Gordon, when she spent more than an hour answering questions on the matter from journalists.
The Prime Minister has always been at her best when speaking off cuff, and away from the spin. And her oratory brilliance, sharp wit and nous for taking on some of the best political minds in the country was at its best during the inquisition. She answered questions regarding work she did as a lawyer for her then partner Bruce Wilson, without hesitation, until there were no more questions from the floor. And when the questions teetered on the edge of mind-numbingly ridiculous, she responded with humour.
Gillard has long refrained from blaming gender for some of the treatment she’s received, but she called out the “misogynist and nut jobs” yesterday, as well as sexist material from a certain cartoonist. It was a subtle reminder that sexism does exist in politics, but that the Prime Minister’s not deterred by it, at all.
There were questions the Prime Minister needed to answer regarding the Slater & Gordon story, if only to make the matter – which has come up previously – go away and to get on with leading the country. Gillard proved she was well and truly capable of delivering a wholly convincing case against the accusations.
Perhaps Gillard should have done it a few days earlier. And perhaps she should bring that level of off-handed communications brilliance out for all to see more frequently. But Gillard’s performance yesterday was one that should remind women why calling out the nut jobs from time to time is worth the energy. And why women, on either side of politics, should still want to be PM.