Kicking the country into gear: Jo Chivers
This week’s event was a shemozzle, a bit embarrassing and it made me sad.
As I watched the telly – waiting for the State of Origin to start like half the nation – but instead seeing newsflashes to political nonsense that would see our very first woman Prime Minister be replaced with a vote from her own party, I pondered.
I was so proud to have a woman running our country even if I didn’t actually vote her in...well none of us did really... and even if I didn’t even vote or agree with her party politics, I was still proud that our country had a female leader and a female Governor General and we’d seen each state apart from SA with female state premiers in the past, but not now.
Then after watching the ‘car crash’ of Wednesday night in seemingly slow motion I could only reflect on what Julia had to put up with as a woman in this important and high profile position.
There is no doubt she copped heaps. I wonder if the other 39 women prime ministers, past and present around the world had put up with so much crap. I doubt the 'Iron Lady' did, RIP Baroness Thatcher.
“The ultimate irony is that there is no doubt Gillard will stay true to her word to bow out from politics, giving her nemesis Rudd the gift of clear air that she never received,” said Gabrielle Chan.
Politics aside, when is it ok to be so disrespectful to a woman or a man who leads our country? The stupid comments made by radio DJs about her partner’s sexuality and her father dying of shame etc were inexcusable.
“The standard you walk past is the standard you accept.”
These strong and meaningful words came from the chief of army, Lieutenant General David Morrison on 13th June as he explained that if people in his army felt it necessary to demean their female colleagues, or if they turned a blind eye to the demeaning behaviour of others, they should find another job. Now that’s true leadership.
The standard you walk past is the standard you accept... Let’s think about this not only in our work but home lives too.
I have two sons who I hope to show that a woman’s contribution in work, home and politics is just as important as a man’s.
So now we wait – with the economy in limbo – for the election and quite possibly another new leader. One I hope will kick the country into gear.
I don’t understand what a difference a new Labor prime minister can make in such a short space of time when I think the writing is already on the wall.
Was all this week’s events just a case of male ego rising?
Jo Chivers is director of Property Bloom, which manages property development.