The ongoing debate regarding Julia Gillard’s “smack down” speech in parliament several weeks back has raised significant arguments about the prevalence of sexism and misogyny in Australian politics.
And it wasn’t just the local media that went into a frenzy following the speech. To date, the ABC video of Gillard’s Question Times speech has had over 2 million views on youtube. After sweeping social media, it didn’t take long for it to take over international headlines.
US blog Jezebel called her a “badass motherfucker”, while The Daily Beast observed that Margaret Thatcher, herself a victim of political misogyny, was probably “smiling”. Salon wondered if Gillard was available to take on the US congress’ “misogynistic caucus”
But The Guardian’s published a piece that goes much further.
In an opinion piece titled Feminism is more advanced in Australia than Britain, Peter Salmon, an Australian writer living in the UK, adds it all up and determines that Australia is a more feminist nation than the UK.
“Gillard’s approval ratings have shot up since the attack, and her disapproval among male voters fell by 5%. Further, 78% of respondents thought her reaction was right” Salmon notes.
The fact that the speech prompted a reaction at all is something to consider.
As Salmon writes: in the UK “much more so than Australia, deviations from traditional gender roles are commented on, debated, argued against and mocked. Thinking women allow for and in some cases encourage such attitudes – reclamation quickly becomes complicity.”
“The majority of Australians seem more comfortable with this concept than the majority of Britons. Gillard spoke the truth and Australians recognised it is a truth that needed to be said, out loud, and publicly. It is this act that they have rewarded with their approval. Misogyny and misogynistic language is tolerated too much in both countries, but it is interesting to ponder what the polls in the UK might have said had the same scene played itself out in Britain’s political arena.”
So what do you think? Is feminism more advanced in Australia than it is in the rest of the world, or do we still have some catching up to do?