I was very disappointed to read this article last week:
http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/shacking-up-is-hard-to-do-why-gillard-may-be-leery-of-the-lodge-20100628-zexr.html?comments=210#comments
Not only does it reflect an archaic view of society and the role of women, but it's patronising, judgemental and moralistic in the extreme. The basic premise is that Julia Gillard being "a popular role model for women" (if only that were the case!) her "lifestyle choice" of being childless and unmarried will "influence other women into making big mistakes about their lives". These big mistakes consist of:
- drifting into living together, which then
- leads some women to miss out on having children or
- becoming parents despite unstable relationships
Not only does Bettina Arndt make pretty wide-ranging and unsubstantiated assumptions regarding the nature of relationships and commitment, but she stops just short of claiming that Julia Gillard is not qualified to lead the country because she is "deliberately barren", as one old white man (aka Liberal Senator Bill Heffernan) famously did before the last election:
http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/outrage-at-senators-latest-attack-on-gillard/2007/05/02/1177788183427.html
Back then Julia responded with the salvo that "modern Australian women understand that they face a set of choices, and are supportive of women having those choices". But here is a perfect example of women judging other women for their choices... what's next? A really good, in-depth discussion regarding her fashion sense and hair colour?
The only positive thing in this whole affair is the overwhelmingly negative reader response to the article. Good to see that most people don't care about her lifestyle choices - they care about her abilities as a PM.
NB: Bettina Arndt also believes that women owe it to their partners to put out, whether they want to or not:
http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/opinion/editorial/general/women-need-to-say-yes-to-sex/1447294.aspx
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2 comments:
I suspect it will probably take several generations to really change people's attitude. These days choices still come with a lot of criticism, regardless of what you choose. Good thing we don't have to actually listen!
Too right... I am sure if she was a mother with 3 teenagers she would be blamed for putting her career first and not spending enough time with the children...
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