A day of grace
You wouldn’t know it from the discarded wooden trains on my living room floor but yesterday I witnessed, live in my living room, a historic day in my great nation. I watched as feminism made a huge win (although in part by default). I watched grace embodied on both sides of the fence.
I am a big picture person. I am really unfussed, for the most part by the petty sides of the Leadership spill that transpired yesterday in parliament. I don’t care for the opposition leader’s snide comments (truth be told I don’t care for the opposition leader), I refuse to entertain the commentary on Julia Gillard’s makeup, her clothes, her hair colour or her nose, I am hesitant to comment on the so-called shattering of the glass ceiling. What really struck me was something subtler and far more important.
Yesterday was a powerful day. From closely watching the coverage on the ABC of the spill, twitter and the reactions of my friends I came to the conclusion that yesterday was powerful because of its compassion, inclusiveness, honesty, humanity, earnestness, its demonstrations of support. What struck me was that politics was flavoured with grace.
I am often heard saying that there are few role models for women today. The pickings are slim if you are looking for women who own themselves, who shine that to the world regardless of the box society would attempt to put them in. The pickings are slimmer still of you are looking for unflinching compassion in action. And the holy grail, women willing to lead with their feminine strengths of inclusion, compassion, communication are so few and far between they are often viewed as urban legends.
Yesterday I found two role models. Therese Rein, who embodied compassion, grace, and acceptance in her unflinching love and support of her husband in his final act as Prime Minister. Everything about Therese resonated love, it was clear that her husband relied heavily on that love for his strength when, at the conclusion of his speech, he asked his wife if he had forgotten anything. What is more she responded eloquently in a forum that it would normally be seen as inappropriate for her speak at all. She was wife and contemporary in that moment, acting from her deepest truth and compassion. Twitter loved her. Comments like ’I think we’ve lost a fabulous “First Lady” in Therese Rein 
‘ from @Rebeccasparrow and ‘I wish Therese was my wife‘ from @Miafreedman.
Then there was the 27th Prime Minister Julia Gillard. Wow. Charisma that I never expected emanated from her every pore. She was humble, responsible, honest, clear, grateful, inclusive, fair, disciplined and warm. Truly an embodiment of strength and focus complemented brilliantly with a willingness to be compassionate and to reach consensus. What a day to be a woman. Twitter went equally wild with the hashtag #gillard trending first for some time and comments such as these, @randykins ‘someone who shows this humility deserves to be PM‘ @Taramoss ‘She’s smart and capable. What an amazing day.‘ @Miafreedman ‘Julia looks Prime Ministerial. Not all leaders look like leaders, male or female. Today, she does.‘
Amen, sister.
1 comment
I don’t see what being a woman has to do with anything. What happened in this “spill” is a shame on Australia. It was out of pure self interest that Gillard and her mob did what they did. Rudd hadn’t really done all that much “wrong” – unlike Clinton, for example, in Lewinski affair. They kicked Rudd out because his popularity slipped.
I will never see Gillard as the Prime Misnister. And, I feel, this lot have made a mockery of the office and the title.
My daughter already believes women can do anything- has done all her life. We didn’t need Julia to go to these lengths to prove some outdated bullshit about women and the glass ceiling. The office of Prime Minister should be almost sacred – for the sake of the country and the people it represents