now is politics, and Me Too and Time’s Up have come to
Australian politics in the past few months.”
For her part, Banks now sits as an independent on a powerful
female-inclusive crossbench with Cathy McGowan, Kerryn
Phelps and Rebekha Sharkie, and says of the upcoming general
election, “I think the crossbench may impact the balance of
power.” She’s still lobbying for the Liberal Party to introduce
quotas so women are equally represented (Labor already have
quotas): “Women represent 50 per cent of our population,” says
Banks. “If you’re not going to welcome them in the party as
representatives, that’s just not aligned to modern society.”
Even if there are quotas, the current demands imposed by
a career in politics can make it difficult for women to retain their
positions if they’re trying to expand their families or have young
children, as the recent resignation of Kelly O’Dwyer suggests.
And around the world? Theresa May is the UK’s second female
prime minister – although embattled. Mexico recently elected
a near-equal number of men and women MPs in its Parliament for
the first time, while in June last year, the Spanish prime minister
Pedro Sánchez chose 11 women to be part of his 17-member
cabinet. And Ana Brnabíc became Serbia’s first female and first
openly gay prime minister. And to bring it back to New Zealand
PM Jacinda Ardern, she recently wrote: “Lifting wages, closing the
gender pay gap, living free from violence, having the choice to be
a carer, to have a career, be a mother – those are uppermost on
my to-do list. Our extraordinary women deserve no less.” Thereby
proving she is the best thing to come out of New Zealand since
Oyster Bay sauvignon blanc, only better – much better.
In the US, two years after Hillary Clinton was defeated by
a self-professed pussy-grabber, a record 257 women were on
the House and Senate ballots in November’s midterm elections.
“This year, the Left has seen a remarkable wave of women
winning races they’d never have entered before, especially
first-time candidates like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez,” says
Rebecca Traister, author ofGood And Mad: The Revolutionary
Power Of Women’s Anger. It’s given Hanson-Young80
“If you’re
NOT GOING TO
WELCOME [women]
as representatives,
that’s not aligned
to MODERN
SOCIETY” Words: Lena de Casparis. Additional words: Hannah James. Photography: Getty Imagesencouragement, too. “Despite Donald Trump’s disgusting views
on and treatment of women, we saw more women on both sides
run for election,” she says. “And that’s an indication women
across the board are saying we’ve had enough of the boys’ club
and we do have a right to participate fully in government, in
society, in leadership, and we have a right to have an opinion
and to voice it, and we’re not going to be slut-shamed for it.”“GIRLS JUST WANT TO HAVE FUNDAMENTAL
HUMAN RIGHTS”
What makes this moment so exciting, so positively radical, is that
many of these women are making it clear they see politics, and
the world, in an entirely different way from their male counterparts.
It’s not just that they have different backgrounds and résumés: for
years, a career in politics as a woman meant appearing to be
macho but never too bold, confident but not cocky, ambitious but
never ruthless, family-loving without actually spending any time
with said family. It meant buying a work wardrobe of oversized
grey tailoring in an attempt to fit in. Well, no more. Finally, we are
seeing women win by being themselves. Commentators are
calling it the “Rihanna approach” to politics, as in “be more
like her and give less of a flying toss”.
In the US, Somali refugee Ilhan Omar and
Palestinian-American Rashida Tlaib became
the first Muslim women in Congress after
November’s midterm elections. Likewise
Deb Haaland and Sharice Davids are the
first Native American representatives. Then
there’s Ocasio-Cortez, a former cocktail
waitress with a working-class
background, who admitted over and over
during her campaign that women like her are
“not supposed to run for office – or win”. When
asked how she thought she‘d go in Washington,
the Democratic Representative for New York’s
14th District channelled JLo (pop references
never grow old), saying: “Trump isn’t ready for
a girl from the Bronx.” Well, we are.
As Traister says, “This year has marked a real tipping
point in how female candidates present themselves – notWOMEN IN POLITICS