The Finance Minister Mathias Cormann has described Bill Shorten as an “economic girlie man” by way of explaining his “weakness” in passing the government’s budget. The comment has drawn criticism which Cormann has dismissed as Labor’s “confected outrage”.
“I am not talking about girls. I am talking about economic girlie men,” Cormann told News Corp’s Sunday papers. “I don’t think there’s anything gender-specific here. Not girls, girlies; it’s very different. I hope you are not going to say I am a sexist misogynist.”
He added in a further statement that “It is not in any way intended as a reflection on girls, it is entirely intended as a reflection on Bill Shorten.”
It doesn’t change the fact the term “girlie” is gendered and the way in which it was framed was derogatory.
Senator Penny Wong weighed in on Cormann’s language on Sky News earlier today.
“If we use ‘girl’ as an insult, what are we telling our sons and our daughters about being a girl? You’re saying it is somehow less competent, weak,” Wong explained.
The Federal Education minister Christopher Pyne commented that Cormann’s observation was uncharacteristic.
“I think Mathias Cormann used a colourful phrase, and I have to say it’s unusual for Mathias to use a colourful phrase,” Pyne explained. “I don’t think it is the most important issue floating past us today.”
It might not seem that way to the government which is precisely why the underlying issue of sexism, however casual, implicit in Cormann’s comments will remain an issue for many Australians. Earlier this year Cormann revealed he considered the issue of equal representation in Parliament as a side issue. Unfortunately when senior members of the government hold that view it will almost certainly remain that way.
Is Cormann’s use of “girlie man” the most important issue confronting Australians today? Not on its own. But when it’s taken in the context of a nation that is failing to adequately engage half the population, it is not inconsequential.
Language isn’t everything but it’s powerful and it’s telling. It’s hard to avoid the conclusion that a man who casually smears another man as “girlie” and then argues it’s not gendered, doesn’t understand that. And it’s time men and women, particularly those in power, start to understand.