A female Prime Minister - a first for Australia!!
Every time the newsreader on the radio says 'the Prime Minister,..Julia Gillard' I feel a little shock, for some reason expecting a male name to follow. But it's real. Julia is PM even if she is only a bi-election away from being toppled.
It will be interesting to watch how Julia will handle the PMship. Will she end up acting and sounding like a bloke as so many women at the top seem to do to 'fit in? So far our "Julia isn't timid" and positions her leadership style as consultative, inspiring and inclusive. A female and sensible approach to leading a minority government. Add collaboration to the mix, stir in some regional development infrastructure promises, and we could be looking at seriously democratic decision making! Inspiring indeed! Well, in practice, anyway. We all know that collaboration isn't exactly easy. In fact, it is outright complex! So many agendas, so many pressures.
With a female Governor General and several women expected to be taking up Ministerial portfolios, it seems timely to be engaged in women's economic and social empowerment (www.unifem.org.au/Content%20Pages/Get%20Active/weps). Off to Japan next week to attend the 15th APEC Women's Leaders Network Meeting http://apecwln2010.jp/ and do my bit to help progress women's empowerment.
Stay tuned.
