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By: Jack Siegel
Known for her famous “misogyny speech” as the leader of the Australian Labour Party, Julia Gillard broke gender barriers and expectations in the highest levels of her country’s government, one of many leaders in her era to do so. But rather than be known simply for breaking barriers, she used her position as Prime Minister also to make real accomplishments for Australia and continues to strive for equality and representation today.
What is her background?
Julia Gillard’s early life was full of ambition. During her education at Adelaide University, she was introduced to politics and found her niche, beginning campaigns for the Labour Party and student unions at just 21 years old. By 1987, she had earned a law degree, and by 1990 she became the youngest partner in her law firm. In the same time period, she rose within Labour party ranks and ran for her first public office just three years later, at 32. After serving as Chief of Staff for a local party leader, she ran her first successful campaign in 1998, officially becoming a member of Parliament and solidifying her track towards leadership.
How did she become a leader in Australia?
Gillard spent a decade in government forging new policy paths and bolstering Labour’s appeal before she would enter the Prime Minister’s office, and made many long-term rivals along the way. Serving in the Shadow Cabinet, Australia’s main source of power for the opposition party, she hatched immigration and education reforms that would win elections for the Labour Party in subsequent years. Here is also where she began to clash with Tony Abbot and Kevin Rudd, her main rivals in Labour who would eventually oust her from power.
After Labour won power in 2007, Gillard was appointed to be Deputy Prime Minister under Kevin Rudd, becoming the first woman to hold the role and being given responsibility for massive parts of the government, including education, employment, and labour. This was her first major test in power, which won her massive acclaim for her recovery from the 2008 recession, her ability to debate on the floor of Parliament, her action against climate change. She strengthened ties with the United States and revolutionized education through testing and digital education reforms.
What was her term as Prime Minister like?
In a contentious and sudden leadership challenge in 2010, Julia Gillard seized control of the Labour Party, and thus the office of Prime Minister, becoming the first woman to ever do so and ousting her rival Kevin Rudd. Despite controversy and mystery about her ascendance, she was able to negotiate massive policy changes for the country:
Climate Change. Using her relations with the Green party and national industries, she negotiated an emissions trading program that allowed the government to tax carbon and reduce emissions, and sponsored new regulated mining operations.
Immigration. The government struggled to manage incoming refugees but eventually opened off-shore processing sites and accepted thousands of new arrivals.
Education. Gillard continued her work as Education minister in new ways, including college education in her economic goals and further pushing a digital education strategy.
In 2013, low polling numbers and questions about her leadership prompted her to issue a public challenge for the party leadership, offering her resignation from politics to any opponent who would win in a party election against her. Kevin Rudd, her rival and previous Prime Minister, won by a large margin, forcing her to retire into private life. Since then, Prime Ministers’ terms in Australia have been short and embroiled in the public challenge, possibly at her example, or at her expense.
What was the ‘misogyny speech’?
As the first female Prime Minister, Julia Gillard played a commanding role in the debates around sexism allegations which embroiled both the House Speaker and the opposition leader throughout her term. In a culmination of tensions on the House floor, she made a 15-minute speech which Australians promote as the defining moment of her term. She called out sexist double standards in the Liberal party, with several direct quotes, and spoke for women across the nation who saw themselves subjugated and subjected to harassment daily. At the peak of her political career, she delivered a message that resounds to this day in Australia: that no man should lecture on sexism while they participate in a brutally patriarchal society and tradition. Although it took Gillard herself time to recognize what she had done, she would come to recognize this as her defining moment in politics.
Julia Gillard represented the rising ambitions and discontent of millions of women in Australia and gave a voice to new political opinions and social ideas while breaking barriers in every area of government. Despite controversy and constant sexism from her colleagues in government and the general public, she made lasting contributions to education, healthcare, and climate change, acting not just as an icon but an actionable leader. Today, she continues to fight in private life for women and working people and stands as an icon for women across the world.
Discussion Questions
How can the global community promote women in leadership?
What role does sexism play in Western elections?
What is Australia’s role in the global community?
Sources/Further Reading
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