Misogyny in Australia

One women is killed every eight days in Australia by her partner or former partner.  They call it the silent epidemic. Why is it silent? Why are we blind?

We are a society where the pay gap between men and women is now 17% , where business characteristically overlooks women when appointing board members (still less than 19%) and where half the population is represented in the Federal Government Cabinet by a single solitary woman. That solitary woman is vocal about 'not being a feminist'.

Misogyny has become so much part of the political fabric that parliamentary commentators were caught on the wrong side of the fence when Julia Gillard defended herself from charges of misogyny by Tony Abbott in Parliament. They wrote articles chastising Gillard for her speech while the speech video went viral, shared by men and women across the country who were sick of the misogynistic venom that Gillard had faced. Later a choir made music to the speech and I like to think this might be the turning point, a point where we start to rethink our values. 

Gonski is a hero

There are heros in Australia as well as creeps (last post) and one of them is the businessman David Gonski. 

David Gonski is the gentleman who co-authored the 'Gonski Report' on education funding.  He says that he had thought when he began his research that the bureaucracies were responsible for education problems but when he met them he realised he had been wrong.

 Watch his video.

Gonski's report highlighted the big gap in funding between wealthy and poor schools in Australia and provided a path to recovery.  Julia Gillard was very keen to close the gap but Tony Abbott's 2014 budget will result in even greater disparities of wealth between schools.

'Not now, not ever': the choral music version

Now there is a choral version of former Prime Minister Gillard's famous misogyny speech. Gotta love it!

Julia Gillard

Not so easy is it?

Well Australia has elected a new prime minister so Kevin Rudd's second prime ministership will have been a short one. Someone commented on late night radio that Julia Gillard and Robbie Deans will be sitting back drinking chardonnay and saying "There you go guys, not so easy is it!"

A few months ago Julia Gillard was deposed by Rudd in the run up to the election after months of misogynist comment and Robbie Deans was replaced by an Australian as coach of the Wallabies after putting up with years of anti-kiwi undercurrent. Deans is a New Zealander and was referred to  as the first foreign born coach of the national team.

Last night the Wallabies lost to the Springboks 38 -12 putting them at the very bottom of the ladder.

Julia Gillard

Robbie Deans