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THE election of Julia Gillard as deputy leader
of the Labor Party brought back unhappy memories. I was giving evidence to a House of
Representatives standing committee on employment, education and workplace
relations of which she was a member. It was 2000. The committee was examining the
educational disadvantage experienced by boys and seeking recommendations. Alan Barron, from the As a member of the Victorian Committee on Equal
Opportunity in Schools (1975-77) the problems experienced by boys was a topic
I had researched. I demonstrated that males suffered disadvantage
in all areas of life with the exception of earnings. Male life expectancy was six years lower than
that of females and male infant mortality was higher. Males are far more
likely than females to be in prison and to be victims of homicide, suicide,
road accidents and drug or alcohol addiction. Male success rates at exams are substantially
lower than the female success rate and boys outnumber girls four-to-one in
requiring remedial or special education. Alan Barron and I made some eminently reasonable
recommendations, such as educators should acknowledge the biological and
psychological differences between the sexes and not uncritically adopt a
feminist vision of an androgynous society. Also that schools could consider offering
single-sex classes and that the recruitment of more male teachers should be
encouraged. To our astonishment, Julia Gillard adopted a
hostile attitude to our evidence, almost as if we were the accused in the
dock. I complained to committee chairman Dr Brendan Nelson, pointing out that
members of the public giving information to a parliamentary inquiry were
doing the nation a service and deserved to be treated with courtesy. Gillard turned the discussion into a totally
different inquiry about why there weren't more women orthopedic surgeons or
members of Parliament. This was no doubt one of her pet peeves. I tried to explain that much of the discrepancy
in male and female career outcomes and earnings were because of women's
choices. Also women have babies and take time off from
jobs to raise children. While numbers of males and females in medical courses
were similar, after graduation, many women chose to work part-time. But Gillard would have none of this, nor my explanation that the differential in male and female incomes
was not so significant when it was considered males shared their
standard of living with their wives and partners and their children. But the last straw was Gillard's facetious
comment in the transcript of the proceedings. "Sorry about our banter.
It started this morning when we had Babette Francis
here and our behaviour has gone downhill ever since
. . ." Personally, as I wrote to Dr Nelson, I would not
have thought it possible for Julia Gillard's behaviour
to have gone further downhill. THE sad irony is that I highlighted the serious
disadvantages of boys in education in my minority report as a member of the
Victorian Committee on Equal Opportunity in Schools back in 1977. It took the Federal Government 23 years to catch
up. Even now any recommendations that might improve
outcomes for boys will be lost in the stranglehold the feminist lobby has
on state school systems -- as typified by Julia Gillard |