It has been an eventful couple of weeks in Federal politics, and likely, one that will stick in the minds of all Australians for years to come.
The appointment of Australia’s first female Prime Minister heralds the beginning of us catching up to the rest of the world in terms of having women as national leaders.
Julia Gillard follows in the footsteps of other political trail blazers on the world stage, including, former Prime Ministers Margaret Thatcher in England, Golda Meir in Israel, Benazir Bhutto in Pakistan, Indira Ghandi in India and Helen Clark in New Zealand.
She now joins current Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel, and Prime Ministers Jadranka Kosor of Croatia and Mari Kiviniemi of Finland, to name a few.
While not all will agree and support the way Gillard has come to her newfound role, few would argue about the level of inspiration she offers women Australia wide.
Having a female in the top job sends a strong message that women in this country can aspire to any job they wish.
In the Year of Women in Local Government, what better motivation could we ask for?
People in Cairns Regional Council in Queensland would be feeling particularly well represented by women. In addition to now having a female Prime Minister, six out of their ten division councillors are women and they have a female Mayor. At the State level, their local MP is female, as is the Premier and Governor, while Federally, the Governor General is female.
However, around the nation there is still a long way to go to boost the number of female leaders in many male dominated public and private sector arenas.
In ALGA’s recently launched Women in Politics publication, Federal Minister for the Status of Women, Tanya Plibersek points out that women account for only 30 per cent of all Parliamentarians. She makes the valid point that engaging men in discussions to advance gender balance is crucial, as it is important that issues of social and economic inclusion are not seen as women’s issues alone – gender equity benefits us all.
We discussed in earlier editions of FOCUS the issue of women sometimes failing due to a lack of support from fellow women.
Perhaps we should take a leaf out of India’s book, where data prepared by India’s PRS Legislative Research shows that women candidates are now more successful than men.
While it would be a change welcomed by many to see women become more successful in a myriad of roles, above all, we must ensure that our leaders in all cases – be it as social role models, politicians or CEOs – are chosen for their leadership abilities and competence, not their gender.
Julia Gillard has no doubt been chosen for her competence by her political party, but as she has said, the real test will be whether the Australian public sees these qualities as well.
We are soon to find out, with the announcement of the 2010 Federal election expected within weeks.
