Chicks can do it too!

Her voice might grate on you, but you’ve got to admit – Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard is good for Australia.

Gillard is good for the country as a role model for the women out there (even if one Coalition politician wishes to call her “deliberately barren”). There are young women who aspire to rise to the top of the heap and become Prime Minister (as Gillard was Acting PM a few months back) and seeing a fellow lady at the wheel makes women think that the world has progressed somewhat.

But Australia is behind the times. The first country to allow women to vote was New Zealand. And let’s not forget that half-woman somewhat manly creature Margaret Thatcher who ruled with an iron fist.

When it comes to sexism however, Australia is on par with the world.

Recently, The Sunday Telegraph decided to print what they thought were nude photographs of Pauline Hanson. If it were nude photos of Joe Hockey – who would have cared? Sure, it might have shocked a lot more people and had many of us fleeing towards the toilet bowls to let the technicolour yawns flow like a river, but because it’s a bloke no-one would care.

There was debate in the US about how First Lady Michelle Obama decided to show her arms (wearing a sleeveless top) in her official photograph. Once again, if she was a fella, not a dame – this would be an issue. I’m no Washington lawmaker, but I’m sure that the constitution allows people to bare arms?