Thanks Julia Gillard… for Being a Julia

…and not a Kevin, Tony, John, Bob or a Barnaby

This is not a politically motivated post. It’s not about the leadership spill in which Kevin Rudd deposed Julia Gillard. It’s not about Liberal or Labor beliefs and not concerned with stopping boats or building broadband. No, this is a post by a Dad with two little girls who would like to say thanks for showing them that they really can, if they want to, be the Prime Minister.

Jools came became Prime Minister not long after Illiterate Infant 1 was born amid a flurry of controversy and excitement. I remember watching the tele-cast, still home on leave after the birth and knowing that this was something special.

It shouldn’t have been special. It shouldn’t be special that a woman can get to the number one position of political power in Australia, just like it shouldn’t be special that a woman is CEO of one of our largest banks, or the Queen is represented in Australia by a female (who Kev had to ask nicely to have his job back), but it is.

I’d also like to apologise, on behalf of all the people in this world who don’t think your gender is intrinsically linked to the quality of your political performance, for the horribly sexist, personal and gender-based hatred you’ve copped from both sides of the political and gender divide.

Don’t get me wrong, Jools made some dumb choices as Prime Minister and in the end, gave her colleagues little choice to sack her but I suspect that it was more than just her performance as a politician that led to the position she found herself in on the 27^th of June, 2013.

I believe history will treat our former Prime Minister much more kindly than she has been treated to date. Anyone who has tried to get a whole lot of people to agree to something would have to acknowledge that she managed to get a whole lot of stuff done under very difficult circumstances. Only time will tell if they were agreeing to do the right things.

What I hope is that my daughters learn from your example. That they learn they can do anything they put their minds to and that their lack of external genitalia does not define the outcomes they can aspire to. Thanks Jools for putting a chink in a glass ceiling that will hopefully be nearly cracked by the time my girls reach it.