First day as premier and Gladys Berejiklian gets asked about marital status and kids

There are a hundred possible reasons why Gladys Berejiklian does not have children, and not one of those reasons is our business.

Infuriatingly however, it took just fifteen minutes for Berejiklian, NSW’s newly elected Premier, to be probed about her marital status and lack of children in a press conference earlier this morning.

The exchange went like this:

Journalist: Julia Gillard was prime minister and she copped a lot of questions about her marriage status and her child status, many of them unfairly. How prepared are you for those sorts of questions?

Berejiklian: I have been in public life for a long time. I have been a senior minister for six years. I am ready for anything.

Journalist: So was Julia Gillard and she did get questions about it and there will be questions about it. Are you prepared for those questions?

Berejiklian: Sure, ask me one.

Journalist: The obvious question is, do you think this is a disadvantage politically because people have kids and they have families and people identify with that like they did with Morris Iemma?

Berejiklian: Take me as you see me. Dominic Perrottet has made up for me, he has four kids. I am someone who has always been myself. Not all of us can plan how our life turns out. I am a very happy person. If you asked me 20 years ago would my life look like this? It probably wouldn’t be how it looks like. But I am grateful for the opportunities I have had. I also want to say again, not because I have to, but because I want to, the closest people in my life are my family. I am not going to judge anybody on their personal circumstances. I am here to govern for everybody and I hope that people judge me on my merits and what I can do.

While Berejiklian’s retort of ‘take me as you see me’, packed the right punch, she also felt compelled to justify the ridiculous question by making it known that her family were the closest people in her life. In other words, she felt the need to confirm that being powerful, being in charge, did not negate her femininity.

It’s disappointing that she had to do this. It’s disappointing that the journalist in question felt the need to issue the same precedent for Berejiklian that befell former prime minister Julia Gillard. It was another sad reminder that female leaders still face sharper scrutiny and higher accountability than any of their male peers.

But the reality is this: We have no right to care if Gladys Berejiklian is a “family person”. We have no right to care if she has a husband, children or a pink Mohawk. What we should care about is whether she’s able to deliver in this new role as Premier. And, judging by her long list of credentials and prior experience, it seems she’s well up to the task.