I'm a feminist, and I'm not rejoicing.

Did you hear the news? We have a new Prime Minister, and this one's got a vulva.

I awoke (rather late) today to find my inbox cluttered with messages from people wanting to celebrate Australia's first woman Prime Minister.

Celebrate? What, exactly?

My friends weren't the only ones cheering. The Australian online is claiming that this move had "fulfilled the feminist dream", (I didn't realised we had one unifying dream). The ABC are, predictably, calling it a "giant leap for womankind".

Don't get me wrong, I'm glad our PM is a woman, and it is a big step in the right direction- I'm just not ready to say my 'feminist dream' has been fulfilled. So, I'm gonna play the fun-wrecking feminist, and point out why.


The ALP is not Australia's voting public
One reason to celebrate may be that we have reached that mythical point in time at which Australia became ready for a female Prime Minister.

Unfortunately this has not yet been tested. While Gillard is Officially Australia's first women PM, she wasn't actually chosen by Australia. I know, I know, we don't directly elect our Prime Minister, so really, the parliament always chooses our leader for us. It doesn't make her position any less legitimate, but it does mean that her role has been approved by the elite of the ALP, and signals a change in their thinking, not the thinking of my next door neighbor.

I recognise this as a first for the country, and I acknowledge the platform this will give her for shaping the views of voters. I sincerely hope a Government is eventually voted in after going to the polls with the stated intention of installing a woman as PM. When that happens, I'll join in with a cheer.


One woman is not Any Woman.
Another possible cause to celebrate could be that some form of political equality has been reached.

But have women politicians noticed a sudden change in the way they are represented by the media? Has everyone stopped obsessing over their hair, their clothes, their childlessness or their sexuality?

No? Alright, but has their been a major change in the number of seats held by women? Or the number of seats held by non-white women? Or the number of women candidates nominated into safe seats? No?

Has it gotten any easier for women to work and raise children? Are they more likely to be in a partnership where the domestic work is carried out equally? Another no.

Having a woman PM is one step toward equality in politics, but lets not forget that Julia Gillard is not any woman. She is privileged, middle-class, able-bodied, white woman with a university education and no children*.


Woman does not equal feminist
We come now to the most important and most overlooked consideration. Having a woman as a leader is not going to help feminist causes, unless she is a feminist woman, committed to feminist action.

Julie Bishop is a woman. Sophie Mirabella is a woman. Across the oceans, even Anne Coulter is a woman. They all have vulvas, and yet I'm hardly inclined to call them sisters in the struggle.

On electing a woman leader, did the ALP suddenly change all their policies? Are they going to legalize abortion for good? Are they going to take steps to dismantle rape culture? Cease all gender identity and sexuality-based discrimination? Have they come out as being for or against anything different than yesterday?

No, they haven't.

Julia Gillard is fabled to be a lefty, feminist type, and that's great, but the ALP are a (ahem) democratic organisation, and as with other political parties, the policy agenda is at least in part outside of the leader's control. Sure, she'll wield power and make decisions, along with the cabinet (or not, a la Rudd), and certainly she'll influence the rest of the party, but unless she wields her influence in the direction of feminist aims, it just isn't feminist.

Don't forget, it was the factional Right who helped get her the gig.


So, I'm hoping
I did read the news this morning with a smile. I hope that some of these things will happen, that the media will give our Prime Minister enough respect to report on her words and not her clothes, that my neighbors will get used to seeing a woman on tv in a position of power, and that the Government will take some (any) feminist actions.

Julia Gillard, I congratulate you. I'm sure it wasn't easy to get where you are, I don't want to diminish your achievement, and I wish you well. I hope you do good things, but if you don't mind, I'll save my rejoicing for when Australia has a Government that gives a shit about women (and refugees, and the environment, or anything other than clinging to their own seats) and backs it up with real action.


There are more feminist perspectives on this story. Check out what they're saying at HoydenAboutTown, SpiltMilk, TheDawnChorus, and MissEaglesNetwork.

*I'm not gonna get on the barren-bashing-bandwagon, but it should be noted that women raising children face real difficulties progressing in their careers, especially careers that require long hours and lots of travel.