Julie Bishop’s National Press Club Address last week ricocheted around the internet. Much has been written and said of her dismissal of the term feminist and her personal choice to ignore the glass ceiling.
Unfortunately, however, the foreign minister’s comments on the historically gender diverse Cabinet announced earlier in the week by the freshly inaugurated President of Indonesia, Joko Widodo, avoided the same scrutiny.
Australia’s current Cabinet has quite rightly attracted considerable criticism because Bishop is the lone female representative among the group of 19. That is obviously not her fault; structural sexism within the Liberal Party is the more plausible culprit. Nonetheless Bishop seems frustrated with the frequent questions about it and it showed when she was asked about her Indonesian Cabinet counterparts.
Bishop’s desire to avoid giving the gender question anymore political oxygen than it already receives, inadvertently, sold out the eight Indonesian women named in Joko’s cabinet and the furthering of political empowerment for women all over the region.
When asked about Indonesia’s new cabinet Bishop responded that the Australian and Indonesian cases differ because 18 of Indonesia’s 34 cabinet members were unelected. But not all eight women were. A number of the female Cabinet members currently sit, or have previously sat, in the House of Representatives while the remainder have public or private sector experience in their portfolio areas. For example, Retno Marsuidi, Bishop’s foreign minister counterpart, has been a career diplomat, serving as the Indonesian ambassador to various European countries.
Bishop went on to say, “Indonesia is an incredibly diverse nation and is working hard to increase female representation and they have achieved a great outcome”. She is right but that’s not a goal any government should be shying away from. And, female political representation isn’t just Indonesia’s problem: it’s ours too.
The World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index for 2014 places Australia at the 24th spot overall, well before Indonesia’s 97th position, out of 142 countries. But when it comes to the political empowerment rankings, the gap between the two countries closes sharply as Indonesia races ahead and Australia struggles.
With an overall political empowerment ranking of 53, Australia continues to lose ground. We’ve slid ten points overall in one year, down 4 for the ‘women in parliament’ marker and down a significant 18 for ‘women in ministerial positions’.
While the Index was published before the announcement of Joko’s new cabinet, the cabinet of out-going president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono boasted a then-record five women.
Putting Bishop’s position on the ‘feminist’ label aside, her role as foreign minister should reflect a genuine regard and awareness of a region in which Australia insists we have a special interest, not a transparent deflection from the shortcomings of domestic politics.
Bishop is in an interesting position in that she is, like all female ministers, unable to remove her gender from her portfolio. And while this occasionally works against female politicians, in the foreign ministry it’s rarely anything but a plus.
As film stars give speeches to the United Nations that go viral and high-school age girls receive Nobel Peace Prizes, women in high profile diplomacy roles can become some of the most important agitators for gender equality globally and use that influence domestically.
Which is why it was so disappointing to see Bishop wave off the Indonesian cabinet gender ratio. It’s a matter that deserves far more attention and scrutiny because, ideally, it’s something Australia should seek to replicate.