Annette Blanka

Lately we’ve heard a fair bit about so-called ‘gender wars’ between the major parties as they compete to position themselves for election.  The absurd levels of misogyny directed at former PM Gillard and other women by the Coalition, amplified through media discourse, are just a taste of what’s to come under an Abbott government. Gillard-the-individual-woman has shown courage and perseverance in withstanding this onslaught. But the attempt to position Gillard as a feminist hero rings hollow. Feminism means equality for all women; Gillard represents policies that materially harm large sections of the female population. On the very day of her celebrated speech to Parliament in which she slammed Abbott’s countless instances of misogyny, her government axed single parents’ benefit (after the youngest child turns 8), forcing hundreds of thousands of single mothers onto the unliveable Newstart unemployment allowance.  Similarly, the NT Intervention and Income Management policies are intensely harmful to women, who are often responsible for managing household budgets and keeping communities together. But these individual policies form part of a larger context. My argument is that another ‘gender war’ of sorts is underway against women, over which Gillard and the media discourse continue to maintain a deafening silence. Gender inequality is accelerating, a key consequence of what the Zapatistas refer to as the “Fourth World War”: the ongoing devastation wrought by neo-liberalism over the past 30-odd years. Continue reading →