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Australian Immigration Daily News
Breaking Australian immigration news brought to you by Migration Alliance and associated bloggers.
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Julie Bishop MP: The budget hair 'cut' comments
The Federal budget was released last night by Joe Hockey. How much lower can we possibly go if we are releasing articles like the one in the Herald Sun with an article titled 'Federal Budget 2014: Julie Bishop's hair gets a cut' by Kristin Shorten.
And guess what? The first shot came from none other than a male by the name of Jonathan Green:
“julie bishop’s hair has taken 20% trim. shape of things to come #Budget 2014,” he tweeted.
'For some, Ms Bishop’s new do was literally the highlight (see what we did there?) of the night', the article states.
Follow-up comments were made by other males David Rolph, Keith Tan and Dean Felton. Notice a distinct lack of women commenting on Ms Bishop's haircut.
Why is it than admist a major national budget rollout, these men start making comments about the hair of the lone female politician on the front bench?
I am heartily sick of seeing Australian women in politics enduring remarks and comments about their appearance, wardrobe and personality. Imagine how harsh women could be if they took the low-ground and took part in male politician appearance bashing? These sorts of comments are seldom made about Australian male politicians, and I very much doubt that women in politics would do the same to one another, or to men for that matter. They are more interested in policy formulation and getting the job done.
Whilst I know there is a school of thought that women should just grin and ignore it, or shut up and pretend they cannot hear it, I think it is time that Australian female politicians started to stand up and say 'no - it's not ok and we won't put up with it'. We are hardly going to have women's policies, agenda and and voices heard across Australia if we can't get enough women to enter politics because the political environment is just too demeaning.
To substantiate my reasoning I would like to refer to a recent study by the Women's Campaign Forum Foundation showing that sexist attacks and sexist media coverage seriously hurt women in politics.
'The study found that in order to mitigate the damage and regain lost ground, female candidates must respond swiftly and strongly to such attacks by identifying them as inappropriate and damaging to all women.'
Julie Bishop MP should not ignore these sexist attacks. Julie Bishop should at least attempt to rise up and speak out against this sort of behavior.
Sam Bennett, CEO of the Women's Campaign Forum Foundation, admits, "I never understood the toxic level of sexism in our society until I experienced it firsthand." Her story led her to conclude that "Politics remains one of the most rampant breeding grounds for misogyny." The measure of a female isn't in her measurements.
Julie Bishop is experiencing attacks by men about her hairstyle. These poorly executed quips relating to 'budget cuts' are nothing more than snide comments by males at Ms Bishop's expense.
Whilst all of this is going on in Australian politics, tonight at 9:15 Australian Eastern Time, the Hon. Hilary Clinton is going to be part of a discussion about Voice and Agency: Empowering Women and Girls for Shared Prosperity.
The persistent constraints and deprivations that prevent many of the world’s women from achieving their potential have huge consequences for individuals, families, communities, and nations. Expanding women's agency—their ability to make decisions and take advantage of opportunities—is key to improving their lives as well as the world we all share. -- World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim, Foreword, Voice and Agency: Empowering Women and Girls for Shared Prosperity
The new World Bank report, Voice and Agency: Empowering Women and Girls for Shared Prosperity, combines a large amount of data and multitudes of studies to shed new light on the constraints women and girls face worldwide, from epidemic gender-based violence to biased laws and norms that prevent women from carrying out decisions about their own lives. These constraints are not only fundamentally unjust but economically unwise, slowing efforts to end poverty and boost shared prosperity.
Isn't this what Australian politicans should be focussing on rather than on a female politician's haircut?
Join tonight's discussion about this groundbreaking report, which focuses on freedom from violence, control over sexual and reproductive health, ownership and control of land and housing, and voice and collective action.
Featuring the following speakers:
Former US Secretary of State
President, World Bank Group
Executive Director, UN Women
Director, Gender & Development, World Bank Group
(Moderator) Senior Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations
Date: Wednesday, May 14th, 2014
Time: 5:15 p.m. - 6:30 p.m. ET (21:15 – 22:30 GMT or convert time)
Location: World Bank Headquarters (Preston) & Online
The webcast will be available on this page on May 14th at 5:15pm ET (21:15 – 22:30 GMT or convert time)
Finally if you would like to comment, Michaelia Cash is the Minister ASSISTING the Prime Minister (Tony Abbott) for Women's Affairs. That's right. The Minister for Women's Affairs is none other than a man. Not only does Senator Cash 'assist' Scott Morrison MP with his immigration portfolio, but she also 'assists' Tony Abbott, who is the Minister for Women's Affairs as well as the Prime Minister for Australia. Wasn't the job of Prime Minister enough for Tony Abbott? Or didn't he trust Ms Cash to be able to manage Women's Affairs without him? Was there no woman suitable for the role?
Wikipedia Extract:
| 17 | Michaelia Cash | Liberal | Abbott | Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Women[2] | 18 September 2013 | incumbent | 237 days |
Comments
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Wednesday, 14 May 2014This so typical of the whole "women in the workplace" attitude that is rife.
It annoys me no end that because a person is "only a woman", it is OK to denigrate and identify her as some sort of ornament that is there either as a token representative or just something to satisfy a male's superiority in his domain.
In my office I have three staff who just happen to be women and they are employed not for looks, tokenism or submissiveness but because they all have intelligence and are outstanding at what they do.
Women, just like men, must be recognized and respected for what they do not what sex they are or what they are wearing, that is completely irrelevant.
The male sex has strengths and weaknesses, just like women. Like or hate Julie Bishop should be based on her character and how you have personally related to her, to get where she is today was no small feat in a world dominated by superior beings, yet still she proved her worth 10 times over just to get to where her male co-workers are, for that alone, she deserves respect as a person.
I think that the media could possibly spend a little more time on learning their grammar and spelling and a little less time making spurious comments about a woman's hair style - never heard him speak of Tony Abbot's receding hairline or Barnaby Joyce's balding head, not to mention Malcolm Turnbull's slick Bankers suits, why? because it is disrespectful and not relevant! -
Thursday, 15 May 2014
It is like being in a lions den for women in the Liberal party. Imagine having to deal with all that middle to upper class pride and the mens networks, private school Joeys, Knox, Riverview, Cranbrook, Grammar and Scots boys. Honestly it is a freak show of male chauvanism and superiority. Enter if you dare....... Bronwyn Bishop deserves a medal. So does Julie Bishop. Perhaps you really do need to be a Bishop to put up with all of it.
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Thursday, 15 May 2014
Ha haa Sonal, Love it!
Unfortunately, it is not restricted to middle to upper class males - note we do not have class distinction here in Australia NOT...
The disrespect of women in the workplace happens at all levels and with all nationalities.
Dealing with many different nationalities and cultures and given the perception that men automatically know everything about any file, life can sometimes be pretty tough for women in our office - our policy is quite simply, no staff member needs to tolerate rudeness (unless out of character) or crude demeaning comments, any client doing so is immediately sacked with no excuses accepted - simple.
Done it twice so far and it sends a clear message to the clients and friends and also reinforces the fact that a workplace is not a place to be abused regardless of gender.
And yes, this is a wagon I am pushing because it is inexcusable, if their culture is such at this is how they treat women in their homeland, they need to understand that with opportunity comes accountability and acceptance of what is socially normal here.
That said, 99% of our clients - both male and female are polite, understanding and a delight to deal with. -
Monday, 17 October 2016
In a 100% UNLOADED way, I was just wondering who it was, some years back, some man overseas, who said he'd "thought Julie Bishop was a man."
Immigration blog
I remember Bronwyn speaker commenting on PM Gillard's nose, on the floor of the House of Representatives.
Tony Abbott stood in front of posters in front of Parliament House, saying "Ditch the Bitch" and other grossly sexist placards.
Alan Jones launched several sexist broadcasts on PM Gillard.
Somewhat sensitive comments I would think - as the Government condones the gulags PNG and Manus Island.
Paul Hense
Accredited Specialist - Immigration Law