Personally I couldn’t care less if a politician is male or female, as long as they don’t discriminate against me because I am male.

But one of the first acts carried out by Anna Bligh after she became Premier was to arrange for a photograph of female only cabinet ministers and also the Governor of QLD who is also female (and ironically is a past Sex Discrimination Commissioner).

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au:80/articles/2007/09/13/1189276877438.html

So people were excluded from the taxpayer funded photograph on the basis of their gender, and this photograph is definitely gender discrimination.

It remains to be seen how much more gender discrimination will be shown by the QLD Premier.

rosemary follett was the first australian to lead a party to government as a woman leader - canberra, act for the alp. she did it twice. she predated the accession to power of carmen lawrence and joan kirner - and she did it not because 'the blokes' moved over when their governments were perceived by the pundits and some of the public to be in poor circumstances. she did it by winning an election - then following it up with another win as chief minister. she (well) predated kate carnell, too ... she (kc) followed her (rf) after rf's two wins.

"Attitudes towards women in power appear to be changing: they are increasingly being seen as leaders in their own right."

Clearly not recognised enuff by merit to preclude writing articles like this one with a sound bite which makes an issue of, er, something irrelevant, like gender.

Does anyone appreciate the irony of incenssantly identifying someone based on an irrelevant subjectivity, whilst denying its relevance.

Personally, l would like to see more female leaders, more black leaders, more political corrections in general, so that the inherent bias and prejudice of ALL can be exposed for what it is. Yes, women are just as sexist as men. Anything characterisations to the contrary less would be er, sexist.

You may have something there Trade,
Except for a small period of time when there was a male Sex Discrimination Commissioner acting on a temporary basis, there have now been 7 Sex Discrimination Commissioners in a row, who have all been female.

I am wondering if this means that there is sex discrimination in the Sex Discrimination Commission, or if it is the case that only women can be non-gender prejudiced, or if there is sex discrimination in the Sex Discrimination Commission.

But of course women can’t be gender prejudiced, because that wouldn’t fit the description of sex discrimination.

Well I for one don't think women are being recognised in their own right.

What I see happening is that women are working out what it is that men in power will accept as appropriate characteristics or mirroring of their power.

With few exceptions have I have witnessed women actually setting the agenda and then setting out the strategic approach to this agenda.

Labor women provide some the most poignant examples of hard slog and discrimination culminating in burnt out women who would have otherwise make significant contributions to public life - but dumber men and women kept them down.

JENNIE GEORGE is a case in point.

Not all women who make it through the rank and file of the Labor party and unions are worthy of leadership roles - but they are outnumbered two fold if we applied this to Labor men.

PS. Never been a Labor person, but I have admired from afar some of their talent.

In 1999 I won an easy bet with some misguided soul that the referendum on the republic would be lost. I should have gone for the bigger odds that the referendum would lose in every state (it did, but not in Canberra, though I often wonder whether Canberra is really part of the rest of the country).

I would be willing to bet now that we won’t see a female Prime Minister in Australia for a very long time. We just aren’t ready for it yet, and I think the media are partly to blame.

I would vote for anyone who I thought had the right qualifications and capabilities, but I am more likely to drink non-alcoholic whisky than see a female Prime Minister elected in my life time.

Mick, I think you have a good point about the country (minly due to the media) just not being ready for it. Its interesting that we bag-out a number of societies as being sexist and patriarchal in their attitudes towards women, but many of the same countries have had female leaders in recent history (eg Pakistan). There are lots of quite capable female leaders around the world, so its obviously not a case of ability (or lack of), nor that we have no talent pool to draw from. I put it down to the unique way in which we view women and men and their roles in society. Its the only other explanation for it.

Mick V
It may take just as long to get a female Prime Minister as it will take to get a male Sex Discrimination Commissioner (and that will probably be at least 6 years away).

But the idea that a female will automatically be a better politician is a myth only.

Within minutes of becoming the Premier of QLD, Anna Bligh carried out an act of gender discrimination.