Window-dressing
The hollowness of the Liberal Party's gloating last year when it appointed four women to its ministry — the largest number in any Australian government — was clearly revealed by Howard's cabinet reshuffle on October 5. In an entirely unceremonious move, Howard demoted the party's star women, Amanda Vanstone and Judi Moylan, to jobs which were obviously conjured up to keep them in the ministry headcount but out of the inner decision-making circle.
The Liberals' attacks on the ALP for its poor performance on female representation in parliament were cynical opportunism of the highest order; but Labor did deserve it. The party's persistent failure to get anywhere near its loudly proclaimed policy of preselecting women into at least 35% of winnable seats (in fact, its slide backwards) speaks volumes about the lack of seriousness with which the Labor leadership takes party policy and its "commitment" to gender equality.
The ALP has always been stronger on the "feminist" rhetoric and "equal opportunity" window-dressing than the Coalition parties, and this has helped to conceal the fact that it has rarely delivered the goods for the majority of women. After March 2 last year, however, the ALP hasn't even been able to equal the Coalition on window-dressing.
As for Vanstone and Moylan themselves — good riddance. During their 19 months at the head of the ministries of Employment, Education and Training, and Family Services respectively, they managed to severely restrict millions of women's (already limited) access to child-care, aged care, higher education, jobs and social security payments.
The reactionary policies implemented by both show these women to be at least as bad for women's interests as any man in parliament.
Vanstone and Moylan's dumping by the party leadership at this point does, however, shed some light on the motivations behind their appointment in the first place. These women's assignment to portfolios which required a more "human face" if the government was to minimise the electoral price for its most vicious attacks is reminiscent of the role of Labor left MPs during the 1980s and early '90s.
Repeatedly during the previous ALP government's austerity drive, left faction members were the dispensable fall guys for the government's attacks. Their removal from cabinet after much of the dirty work was done simultaneously served to strengthen the Labor right faction's dominance.
Sexism runs deep in parliamentary politics. It runs especially deep in the Liberal Party under the leadership of John "back to the '50s" Howard. Vanstone and Moylan's demise attests not only to that, but also to the falseness of claims that gaining (and retaining) positions of influence in government is easier for women today.
Equally false is the claim that equal rights for women — within or beyond Parliament House — can be won by getting more women's bums onto those leather seats in Canberra. The recent record of both political parties makes it abundantly clear that the principle of equal representation is absolutely dispensable. Just as importantly, it also demonstrates that even if some women manage to clamber across the sex divide, they are far from automatically sympathetic to all women's needs when they reach the other side.
By Lisa Macdonald