This was published 5 years ago
Opinion
Memo to creepy male pollies from the WWSU (Women With Stuff Upstairs)
Julia Baird
Journalist, broadcaster, historian and authorIt can be very disconcerting, apparently, for some to discover that the person opposite you, a person in a position of power, also possesses breasts. Still, in 2018.
Sarah Hanson-Young discovered that this week, when Spectator Australia published a letter complaining about a perfectly respectable dress the Senator wore in Parliament, saying that “Any woman with anything upstairs knows you don’t win a debate with your boobs hanging out.”
Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young on Tuesday, wearing a dress of curious interest to a spectator in the Spectator.Credit: AAP
Leaving aside that moot point, how ridiculous to air such tripe. And how predictable. The headline? “Credibility gap”. It’s embarrassing, like a pervy Grandpa or Benny Hill character doing political commentary. A cursory glance at history shows that when powerful women have worn shirts that are not turtlenecks, they have been simultaneously ogled and tsk-d over, accused of sparking “cleavage wars”. This has happened to Julia Gillard, Hillary Clinton and Theresa May.
So this column is for the Women With Stuff Upstairs. (Also known as women). WWSU are watching Parliament, listening to female MPs calling out harassment and bullying, and are wondering why the men aren’t paying attention to their words, their analysis, their clarion calls to their parties, asking them to respect and promote women before further alienating half the electorate.
There were several arresting sights in Parliament this week. First, the determination on Senator Hanson-Young’s face when she named the four senators who had allegedly been sledging her relentlessly with “disgusting slurs and attacks”. Second, Julia Banks standing to resign from her own party after accusing her fellow Liberals of sexist bullying, and moving to the crossbench. Third, the sight of men walking out of Parliament when women spoke or sexism was discussed.
Standing up stiffly, in their suits, and walking out.
Three senators stalked out of the chamber when Greens leader Richard Di Natale finally spoke to denounce what he called “sexist filth” (which allegedly came from them). Five men were snapped by gun Fairfax photographer Alex Ellinghausen walking away from Julia Banks as she gave her clear and dignified resignation speech – with the notable exception of Craig Laundy, fellow MP and decent bloke.
Julia Banks rises to speak to announce her decision to quit the Liberal Party as Coalition MPs leave the chamber.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
Then Prime Minister Scott Morrison walked out during the first speech of the new member for Wentworth, Kerryn Phelps. Sure, it coincided with the end of question time, but Phelps found it “pretty shabby and disrespectful”.
WWSU are watching all of this, and we are even able to interpret it given we have stuff “upstairs”. It’s a culture of disrespect. And much of it has become quite sleazy.
If Parliament House becomes a place you wouldn’t want your teenage daughter to linger in, why expect grown women to hurl themselves into a place that for so many has been a gendered career abyss?
As AAP senior political writer Angus Livingstone put it: “It’s deeply weird how a group of old men make sexual comments about Sarah Hanson-Young under parliamentary privilege.” Yes it is. It’s creepy, a form of pack harassment from older colleagues – surely a sackable offence in any other workplace.
And this behavior will not be rewarded at the ballot box (three of the senators named by SHY are unlikely to return); women deserted the Greens in droves after the serial scandals and allegations of misogyny and rape.
So now, given that a bunch of blokes in the governing party are scratching their heads about how to solve a “woman problem” (and by solve I don’t mean denying it and telling women to be quiet) , here is one suggestion from a WWSU: put women in charge.
In its 74-year history, the federal Liberal Party has never had a female leader. There have been 19 federal presidents of the Liberal Party. Just one was a woman, Chris McDiven in 2005. Take a blind, wild guess who was the architect of the sweep of women into John Howard’s government in 2006. McDiven had put in many years of hard work, encouraging, coaxing, training women to run. Since her tenure, the numbers of female MPs has gone backwards. Less than a third of the Young Liberals are women, which should raise a bevvy of red flags. And where are the up-and-comers?
Attitudes of contempt and condescension to women cross party lines. But what is most concerning is that the party currently in government is being branded as a party of men for men, run by men. It has not been branded as this by commentators or rogue columnists, but by the women in the party, or formerly in the party.
This week Julie Bishop donated the red heels she wore when she announced her resignation from the ministry to the Museum of Australian Democracy. These symbols of defiance, spunk and covert rebellion will become relics of a subterranean rage. Relics of women, looked over for promotions or leadership positions, their extensive experience somehow dwarfed next to the special category of “male merit”, a historic handicap that drowns out other competition.
And while these blokes in Parliament are blaming everyone but themselves for the losses in Wentworth and Victoria, and are jostling and brawling and carrying on about gangs and factions, and insulting or ignoring women who defy them – by turning their backs on them as they speak – the voting public looks on, chin in hand, appalled and unimpressed.
The problem is this: you can turn your back on the women in your own party, although you do so at your peril, but you can’t just walk away from women who vote.
Julia Baird hosts The Drum on ABCTV.