Stark warning from ex-PM on rise of the ‘manosphere’
Australia’s only female prime minister says a planned, organized and strategic pushback by the “manosphere” against gender equality cannot be swept under the rug.
But Julia Gillard says advocates should also turn the spotlight on themselves and consider whether their language is playing a role in making men feel excluded from the movement.
The former Labor prime minister, who now lives primarily in the UK, has returned to Australia as a keynote speaker. Women Deliver.
The gender equality conference, which starts on Monday, focuses on improving all aspects of the lives of women, girls and gender diverse people.
The event is hosted by Melbourne; This is an important moment as it is the first time the conference, founded in 2007 and held every three years, has been held in the Ocean-Pacific region.
Stating that Women Deliver is more than a conversation festival, Ms. Gillard said that the participants are intensely focused on developing solutions to global challenges.
“People come together not just to chat, but to make new connections, work on difficult topics, come up with new ideas and then take them from the conference and implement them,” he told AAP.
The conference is being held against a backdrop of global backlash against diversity, equality and inclusion initiatives, and concerns about the rise of the manosphere and its impact on young men.
“In many parts of the world we have seen a form of politics that brings together nationalism, isolationism, anti-patriotism and anti-women’s rights agendas,” Ms Gillard said.
“With all this going on, it’s an especially important time for people to come together and discuss what we can do to win the popular debate around the world, because at the end of the day, more gender-equal societies benefit everyone.”
After leaving parliament in 2013, Ms Gillard focused much of her attention on improving gender equality, mental health support and education.
In 2018, she was appointed head of the Global Women’s Leadership Institute at King’s College London and later founded its sister institute based at the Australian National University in Canberra.
The institute was among the first to notice and monitor the regression of young men’s attitudes towards gender equality.
Ms Gillard said this trend was partly attributable to the equality movement not being as inclusive of men as it should be.
“To be self-critical…some of the language we used on gender equality gave the impression that this was only about women…it was not inclusive enough to explain that this was about a better future for everyone,” she said.
“But it is not as simple as we need to change our language and make it more inclusive of men and boys.
“I think we need to be well aware that there is a planned, organized and strategic pushback.
“There is a form of politics, fused with online influencers and the manosphere, that markets a particular version of masculinity… (about being) able to dominate the women in their lives.”
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