Misogyny, media and Australian elections

BY MAYA RANGANATHAN| IN Media Practice | 20/06/2013

The debate on 'is Australia a racist country?' is yet to die down. The new debate ahead of the September elections is, 'is Australia a sexist country?'

MAYA RANGANATHAN on recent events involving the prime minister.

The debate on ‘is Australia a racist country?’ is yet to die down. Even four years after the country copped bad press internationally for the ways in which it responded to the attacks on Indian students, popular discourse throws up the question now and then. However, upping the question now, ahead of the September 14, 2013 general elections when the first woman Prime Minister Julia Gillard of the Labor Party is preparing to battle out with Tony Abbot of the Liberal Party is the question: ‘is Australia a sexist country?’

A few recent events have thrown the spotlight on perceptions of women in society. The most discussed is the suspension of a radio interviewer for questioning the sexuality of Gillard’s partner, Tim Mathieson. Howard Sattler of Perth-based 6PR radio, owned by Fairfax Radio had, in a live interview with the PM on June 13, asked personal questions that have popularly been dubbed as ‘absurd’. Australia’s Sex Discrimination Commissioner Elizabeth Broderick told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) that the incident was characteristic of the harassment that women in public offices faced.

Fairfax radio in a statement the next day, “unreservedly” apologised for the incident and sacked Sattler. He also lost his spot in the Channel 7 (owned by Seven West Media Limited) TV show ‘Sunrise’. However, Sattler aged 67 years, said he was “staggered” and “flabbergasted” and defended his questions. Threatening legal action against the radio station, he said that the PM could have stopped him at any point but did not, and it was unfair that he was fired when other shock jocks who had clearly overstepped the line in the past continued in their media jobs.

Coming as the Sattler incident did in the same week as the Liberal Party fundraising dinner where the menu contained a dish described as ‘Julia Gillard Kentucky Fried Quail with small breasts, huge thighs and a big red box’, the public outrage is understandable. The fundraiser for Liberal Party candidate Mal Brough in Queensland was presided over by Shadow treasurer Joe Hockey, who quickly apologised for the menu and admitted that it was ‘sexist’. So did Liberal leader Tony Abbott who himself has been accused of misogyny in a passionate speech by the PM in Parliament that made headlines world over in October last year. Gillard’s speech was in response to the charges against former Speaker Peter Slipper who was accused of sexual harassment which included sending sexually-explicit text messages. The menu also included ‘Rudd’s a Goose Foie Gras’ and instructed guests to eat up all their greens “before they take over”. (Kevin Rudd is the former PM who Gillard replaced as the leader of the Labor Party and who is still seen as staking his claim to leadership and ‘Greens’ represents the Australian Greens Party which won a seat in each of the six states in Australia acquiring a balance of power in the Senate in 2011, a first for a minor party.)

While it is almost tempting to dismiss ‘sexism’ as a distasteful by-product of political acrimony, two other incidents around the same time point to a deeper malaise. On June 13, three army personnel - a major, a sergeant and a warrant officer - were suspended following allegations that army officers photographed themselves in compromising positions with women colleagues and civilians and circulated the ‘trophy pictures’ online. It is an offence under law to transmit explicit sexual content without consent of persons involved and it is not clear if indeed the consent of the women were obtained. Speaking of the scandal, Army Chief David Morrison said, “The imagery, as is the text, is explicit, derogatory, demeaning and is repugnant to me.”

Just a day earlier, Socceroos coach Holger Osieck while addressing a press conference in Melbourne after his team won over Jordan paving the way for the national side to take part in the World Cup in Brazil next year, had said, “women should shut up in public.” The 64-year-old German coach was telling a male official that he was pushing him around like a woman, telling him where to sit. He had said it in Latin and translated thus for the benefit of the mediapersons: “Women should shut up in public … I say it to my wife at home, it is a private one, OK. And you record that one as well? I am going to be the darling of all Australian wives.” Osieck apologised a day later and attributed it to ‘tiredness’ and ‘slip of tongue’.

It was reported that Osieck was to undergo rehabilitation of his choosing for gender vilification and seek the guidance of Collingwood Football Club President Eddie McGuire. McGuire was also at the centre of a racial vilification episode in May this year when he suggested that promoters of the King Kong musical could use Australian Football League (AFL) star Adam Goodes, an indigenous Australian, to publicise the show. It had prompted calls for his resignation as the club president. Interestingly, just five days earlier, McGuire had apologised to Goodes on behalf of a rival team fan who had racially vilified him. On his calling Goodes an ‘ape’, he said publicly on radio, “It has cut me to the core. I put my foot in it. I'm happy to cop any criticism. I could not be more sorry. I did the wrong thing, not intentionally, but nevertheless it caused hurt.” Goodes accepted the apology and McGuire continues in his position.

Apologies and public remorse notwithstanding, the events in quick succession give the impression of an intolerant society. Eva Cox, a veteran feminist was quoted as saying, “A few days ago, it was racism, now it’s women. It’s almost as if they’re saying, ‘We can do and say what we like, try and stop us.’ Seriously, it looks like we’ve learnt very little. The level of abuse is worse than it was 10 years ago. Just join the dots.”

While public discourse has condemned sexism in no uncertain terms, in the case of the beleaguered Prime Minister, it is yet to turn into popular political support, if one were to go by the opinion polls. Her criticism of the Opposition’s conservative stand on abortion and women has had few takers; her government has reduced state benefits for single mothers and women representatives in her Cabinet are far from significant. Opinion polls may be wrong, but the writing on the wall is clear: it is hard to be a woman in Australia, and perhaps, everywhere else too.