Best Beloved said something interesting last night.
Don't get me wrong, he quite often says interesting things, many of them very droll, but this was especially interesting in a feminist sense.
What is the National Portrait Gallery going to do now? he said. They always ask the Prime Minister's wife to be their patron.
Well. Indeed. Now that there isn't a PM's wife, at least until the election (and hopefully onwards) what is going to happen to all these deeply entrenched ideas about using an assumed time-rich and idle female spouse of an important 'man' to support your institution or charity?
Therese Rein and Cherie Blair put sizeable dents in these expectations -- as did Denis Thatcher -- but how will Tim Mathieson cope with it? Will he even be asked? And how offended should Australian women be if he isn't asked?
9 comments:
I hope it will just go on subverting the dominant paradigm, day after day!
Of course he should be asked. Does it say anywhere that it must be a woman who is patron? If not I might just be raising an eyebrow and perhaps even getting my act together and writing a letter asking why.
I said to my hubby last night that after Julia I want Penny Wong as PM. He said that by that time she would be too old. I mulled over this for a while and then asked him why he thought this. We then had to discuss how old we thought she might be (Wiki says 42) and he thought she was younger than she looked (he was wrong). So assuming two terms of Julia and two terms of (dear goddess please Malcolm) then she would be 54ish by the time Labor came back into power. Not too old at all me thinks. We did discuss how it may be difficult for a woman to convince the voting public that she's not too old of course, unlike men who are only seen as ready for political leadership when they are in their 50's.
I love Penny Wong too and would love to see her be PM but I think it will be more than ten years for Australia to be ready for an Asian lesbian leader.
As for the portrait gallery- might be time for them to think about if they want a good women as their patron (which would be good as so many institutions have men as patrons) that these women should be choosen for thier profile and interest in the arts-not who they are married too. Therese Rein would be great in her own right.
I wonder if he will be treated as a spouse, if he's 'just' the boyfriend?
I love that idea of preferring a good woman, birdmonkey.
And I know others who would love a Penny Wong PM campaign, too...
It wouldn't be the first thought that came to my mind (I mean, the npg stuff).
I read yesterday that the prime minister of Iceland married her long time(female)partner. I think it will take a long time for someone like Penny Wong to get the vote. But we are definitely taking giant leaps in the right direction. Bring on the election! RAMONA
Last night the 12 year old declared that the next PM will be an Aboriginal woman.
...and wouldn't that be fantastic!!
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