Social Democracy, the “Fair Go” and Gender Wars: Women Under the Rudd and Gillard Governments (2007–2013)

This chapter focuses on Australian government policy but also provides relevant international examples. The Rudd Labor government’s support for equal opportunity for women was incorporated into the framing of supporting a “fair go”. However, government plans were impacted by the Global Financial Crisis and rising deficits. As was the case internationally, the resulting government stimulus policies were often relatively gender-blind with a focus on areas such as the construction industry that had relatively low levels of female employment. Nonetheless, there were feminist achievements, such as the belated introduction of paid parental leave. The government remained friendly towards feminism rather than antagonistic to it as under Howard. When Julia Gillard displaced Rudd as Prime Minister she supported a number of feminist agendas, especially supporting equal pay for low-paid women in caring work. However, Gillard faced gendered, culture war attacks on her Prime Ministership that revealed similarities with the way that women leaders and potential leaders have been treated internationally. Gillard has gone on to become a major proponent of women’s equality internationally, particularly regarding the issue of women and leadership.