... and ain't i a woman?: Jumping on the gender bandwagon

It had to happen. An understanding of the electoral advantage of women candidates has, at last, percolated through to the leadership of the Liberal Party. On October 22, NSW deputy opposition leader Ron Phillips said the Liberals would be seen as a party of "dinosaurs" unless they get more women into parliament. The news is, in many ways, unsurprising. The Labor party, in spite of its rhetoric, is floundering to put 35% of women in safe seats for the next federal election. Some analysts say it is likely that the ALP will have even fewer women candidates than in 1993. The Liberals are also jumping on the old gender bandwagon. Women candidates are being promoted because they are women, which makes hiding their reactionary policies a lot easier. Will these women candidates, with their eye firmly fixed on a blue-ribbon seat, promote women's rights if elected to parliament? Will they really change the way parliamentary politics is conducted? Will they really make a difference? Even though we don't know the Liberal Party's exact policies — they learnt their lesson from the 1993 GST fiasco — we know enough to know that the Coalition is no friend of the marginalised and disadvantaged. Instead of telling the electorate pork pies Labor-style — "no child will live in poverty by 1990", "gender equity by the year 2000" — the Liberals are remaining tight-lipped. General motherhood statements about the state of the nation can be interpreted pretty broadly. It remains to be seen if the Liberals' tactic of pushing women candidates will work. The Liberals are caught in a bind. If they don't divulge their policies on women, this latest tactic may well be seen as a little-too-obvious ploy for women's votes based on gender alone. However, if they do talk up their policies, the outcome could be worse. The Liberal party hasn't a hope of redefining itself as a pro-woman party. Their reactionary policies on the family, child care, abortion, lesbian and gay rights and industrial relations, is more than enough to convince us of that. Ron Phillips' "dinosaur" threat is a misnomer. The Liberal party winning the feminist vote is about as likely as pigs sprouting wings. Kath Gelber

From GLW issue 209