SANDWICHES IN THE NEWS PART 1
That was May 8, 2013. 23 days later…
The former Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard dodged 2 sandwiches at 2 different high schools on 2 different days.
While Gillard joked that the culprit must have “thought [she] was hungry,” many saw the flying lunch as physical representation of sexism. It was seen as a refusal to respect the authority of the female Prime Minister.
Was it? Could the sandwich heckler have been a class clown, ready to throw a sandwich at any politician or guest speaker? Or, could this be the kitchen equivalent to when a man told Hillary Clinton to “iron my shirts?”
Before you answer, consider that Gillard had recently made her famous Misogyny Speech. Also consider how the phrase “go make me a sandwich” has evolved into a common dismissal of women. ALSO consider this menu from Australian Liberal National Party candidate Mal Brough’s fundraiser dinner.
It describes the Moroccan Quail as: “Julia Gillard Kentucky Fried Quail – Small Breasts, Huge Thighs & A Big Red Box.”
She was the country’s Prime Minister.
So often I hear/see people say/write that sexism is a thing of the past. They say that it’s done its job. Women can vote, they can even be Prime Minister.
No one ever talks about Stephen Harper’s thighs or chest.
Gillard is one of many women in power who are not given the same respect as men in the same position. Evidence of this is found in media coverage that focuses on a female politician’s clothing instead of her policies and in the lobbing of sandwiches.
Shannon Sampert, a University of Winnipeg Professor, wrote this about gendered politics in the Winnipeg Free Press.
Later in the summer, public opinion of Gillard began to fall drastically. Australian writer Van Badham wrote in the Telegraph:
“Julia Gillard navigated through the financial crisis, presided over a 14 per cent growth in the economy and pushed through several impressive policy reforms. The problem for the Australian PM was not her performance. It was that, from beginning to end, she remained female.”
This may have happened in Australia, but I think it applies to Canada, too…It’s all the commonwealth.
Gillard said, “At the end of the day, yes, it happened to me, but it’s not, you know, about me. It’s about all of us, about women and about the kind of society we want to be for all of us.”
But wait, you say. You are a boy! What do you care and what could you possibly know?
Yes I am but I think the last ‘us’ in Gillard’s quote above includes me and men and boys. I care to write a post like this not because I think it will transform the country but because there are so few males that write or talk about issues of sexism. It has been relegated to a ‘women’s’ issue that men aren’t expected to talk about. I think equality whether that be between gender, race, sexuality (I know that Gillard strongly opposed marriage equality), etc. is everyone’s business.
I don’t know much, but I hope that by looking at the abuse Gillard received we will realize that there exists a culture of sexism. We will realize that this culture permits the dismissal of women, especially those in power, and, hopefully, work to end it.
*Next week, I’ll be back on the sandwich grind!
Power Goes Out (to eat) 