Strong and outspoken women in politics are often dismissed as shrill, lecturing and bitchy. But when you look back at history it’s the witches, bitches and nasty women who challenge and change things.
By Alice Giblin
In the lead up to International Women’s Day earlier this month, I read an article about Elizabeth Warren and it made me angry.
Warren had just pulled out of the candidate race and the Atlantic published an analysis piece on how she was received titled ‘America punished Elizabeth Warren for her competence’.
I read the article after it was tweeted out by Green Institute Director and former Christine Milne staffer Tim Hollo, who compared Warren’s treatment with Christine’s.
The phrase that really got to me was this: ‘When I hear her talk, I want to slap her, even when I agree with her’.
My anger sat at a simmer, as photos of #IWD breakfasts here and there popped up on my various feeds. And here’s why.
Strong Green women
I met Christine Milne when I was about seven years old. She was running for Lyons, and my parents hosted her at our little house at Koonya on the Tasman Peninsula. My dad was busy fighting to save the forest behind our house (which is, incidentally, now threatened again), so my parents were very proud to have Christine visit.
I remember staring at Christine as she held the room’s attention, talking about the need for forest protection. I was awestruck.
When we waved her car off, I told my mum I wanted to be like her when I grew up.
I love Tasmania, so I’ve always been proud of what Greens have protected – and of what Green women have achieved. Great Green leaders, like Christine – the first female leader of a political party in Tasmania – Peg Putt, and my own boss, Cassy O’Connor. They are role models. Their strength resonates, like the clarity and conviction in their voices.
The Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area, Wesley Vale, Ralphs Bay and the Tamar Valley: without the Greens and the broader conservation movement, and the stand of gutsy women at its core, those places would have been lost or destroyed.
So, as an unassuming and reasonably shy ideologue – I think I’d be called a ‘true believer’ if I was in the Labor Party – maybe you can imagine how I was a little shocked when I first started working in politics ten years ago.
Those clear, strong voices I respected so much are dismissed as ‘shrill’, ‘lecturing’, and ‘know-it-all’. Their tenacity is labelled ‘obsession’, and when they show their strength, they’re ‘bitches’.
Before I walk into a meeting with my equivalents, they have already made up their mind because I’m a Green. Then I’m dismissed, because I’m a young woman. And when I get frustrated because I’m not heard, I’m an overly emotional bleeding heart or a puritan.
Witches and bitches
Why would I be frustrated?
Well.
When my boss was abused in public by a senior government staffer and when I reported it, I wasn’t believed and it was dismissed in writing by the Premier of the day.
That time when I went to a meeting and had to listen to a chief of staff, paid three times as much as me, talk about how they were a feminist champion for half an hour before I was given three minutes to ask for what I needed.
When a minister arrived at a department meeting carrying a stranger’s lipstick left in his car and attempted to ‘return’ it to my friend, who it didn’t belong to and had never, ever been in that car.
Watching a Twitter fight between two senior male staffers over who was really the sexist, when both had written media releases neither of them should’ve.
Being one of dozens of women who have been casually sexually harassed in the workplace.
…and there’s a lot more that I didn’t think was appropriate to write down. But some man, sometime in the last ten years, thought it was appropriate to do it.
Maybe you can recognise yourself in this. Maybe it wasn’t you, but maybe you recognise the story and the details are different.
Maybe it’s worth thinking about when you walk into a meeting, or into parliament, or when you watch the news.
So while all that shit has happened – does happen – I still feel lucky, every day. I work for one of the toughest, most impressive women I’ve ever met.
Cassy gave me the opportunity to work in this world almost a decade ago, but the real gift was the confidence in my own ability. It is a privilege to work for strong Green women, infuriating as it can be when they get ridiculed and denigrated and ignored.
The opportunities – and frustrations – I’ve had made me stronger, and Cassy has helped me realise my voice is powerful in every way.
Nasty women
I want to end this by mentioning the other positives I get to see, because it’s important.
It’s the scrutinising women in the press pack; the camaraderie and shared understanding of women across the political spectrum; and the young women and girls who watch parliament and see the possibility to make change, and hold hope in their hearts.
And for me, it’s going to work for, and with, good, strong Green women – Cassy and Rosalie.
When you look back at history it’s the witches, bitches and nasty women who challenged things, changed things; they stood up and called out the bullshit and the disrespect.
We don’t want to be infantilised, or sexualised or patronised. We just want to be respected for what we contribute.
Because apart from anything else, every woman deserves respect.
Alice Giblin is a Senior Adviser to Leader of the Tasmanian Greens, Cassy O’Connor.
