After a few years of wondering if the whole feminist thing had become a bit of a self-indulgent romp i have been pleasantly surprised by a few recent victories. Although a recent study in the guardian speculated that it would take women another 40 years to break into the FTSE 100 we have Norway instituting a 2 year deadline by which time 40% of the seats of each company listed on the Oslo bourse must be occupied by women.
As much as they are not neccesarily of my personal political pursuasion it is also somewhat heartening that Angela Merkel (Germany) and Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf (Liberia) have taken up the highest political offices in their respective countries. It is however the election of Michelle Bachelet as the first female president of Chile that is making me smile today. The overall Left-ward swing in South America has on the whole been characterised by quite masculinist politics and it is wonderful to see that it is possible to look beyond this.
Now i know the UK had Mags and the USA will probably have Clinton Mark 2 or Condi (since Laura Bush has been tipping her recently) but c'mon Australia what's it going to take for this to even begin to look possible? (ALP i'm looking at you..) I would like to propose my own candidates if the party political folks can't get around to it.
Mary Kostakidis
Marie Bashir
Lee Lin Chin
Clover Moore (sorry, but i would)
Dorothy Porter
Judy Davis
Pat O'Shane
Tracy Moffat
just for starters.
Tuesday, January 17, 2006
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6 comments:
Not sure what makes me more giddy with anticipation — the fact that an entire continent seems to be swinging to the left, or the thought of Lee Lin Chin's election as Prime Minister and the subsequent celebration party... now that would be the ticket (pun intended) of the decade...
I'd be waiting for the acceptance speech outfit. You just know that your eyes would bleed with the loveliness of it all..
I do like Bachelet - she has a look that puts me in mind of Felicity Kendal mixed with Helen Mirren. Mmmm, English Rose.
Can we add Margaret Whitlam to the shortlist too, as our own Former Leader Mark 2?
Failing that, Margaret Pomeranz please. I can just see her now telling Tony Blair she doesn't agree.
Oh, and Magda Szubanski too, naturally.
Agreed on Magda and M. Whitlam of course but I can't believe i didn't put down Ms Pomeranz. She would indeed be magnificent, we could fly into a new era with *those* earrings of hers distributing peace and artful nudity to the masses...
Well, I know who I'll be voting for now... can just see her at Question Time: "No, I'm going to have to disagree with you, I'm only giving Vanstone's performance half a star. The costume design was terrible and the lighting did nothing for her. Oh, and has everyone seen my new earrings?"
It'll be the funniest moment in political history since that scene in Drop the Dead Donkey where Gus comes out with the line "and I demand to know who was responsible for drawing those vampire teeth on my portrait of Tony Blair!"
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