When Malcolm Turnbull came into office I started thinking about writing about his views on women. Then I stopped, because every time anyone gets a job promotion like this, the Internet explodes with articles asking if they're a feminist or not. And honestly I don't really care if Turnbull has a copy of the Bell Jar on his bedside table.
In politics, saying you're a feminist is like saying you're a vegan in uni. People act impressed, but quietly hope it's bullshit and doesn't inconvenience them at a later date. It's a Band-Aid word to pull out when you're trying to cover misdeeds or set yourself apart from a party that hasn't distinguished itself on women's issues. The thing is though, most women don't give a shit if you're a feminist. They give a shit if you back legislation and social change that will make sure they don't become a statistic that's killed by a man, paid 81.8 cents on the male dollar, or are forced to choose between having a kid or a job.
But it turns out Malcolm Turnbull is from that school of older white men who love telling everyone they care about women. He's been doing it since 1988.
Since he took office he's made it clear he wants to dislodge the Coalition's reputation for being sluggish over issues affecting women. While clearly not a "women's issue", it's poignant that in his first interview as PM on Today he highlighted his intentions to make eradicating family violence a priority. Furthermore he appeared to acknowledge the Abbott government's failings: "It has been overlooked to some extent, it has been ignored for far too long, and we must have zero tolerance for it. I think a growing level of awareness is vital. Real men don't hit women, and we've got to be very determined to eradicate it."
Related: Why Malcolm Turnbull Might Not Be the Change Australia Is Hoping For
It was refreshing to see domestic violence spoken about as a primary concern. But while we're still in the shadow of the 2015 budget's disappointing allocation of funding to support services, many will remain skeptical until he puts more than his voice behind the matter.
Internally, Turnbull has been open about his commitment to bringing more women to the front bench, something he demonstrated with the unveiling of his much discussed cabinet. Living up to the hype, he added another three women to the front bench, bringing the total to five, and including the appointment of Marise Payne as the nation's first female Defence Minister. Thankfully he also learnt from Tony Abbott's mistakes, appointing Michaelia Cash as Minister for Women rather than having a crack himself.
The appointment's weren't a surprise, he'd made his opinions clear long before last week's spill. Earlier this year he expressed his interest in advancing the role of women in Australian politics in an article entitled "Let's get more women into politics" on his website. Sure, it was a thinly veiled humble-brag about his role at the Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians conference. But it did address issues like making parliament more family friendly, declassifying gender as a women's issue, and commented "It is not about men saving women, it is about men standing up beside women."
But he's no doubt hoping that doubling the female presence on the front bench will blot last week's leaked cabinet document that revealed that when it came to appointing women to boards, Turnbull was the worst-performing minister in the Abbott cabinet.
Dated August 6 of this year, the document showed that of the 16 appointments he made to the communications portfolio, only one was a woman. He fell far short of his less media friendly co-workers: Immigration Minister Peter Dutton and his predecessor Scott Morrison appointed 36 women, while Workplace Minister Eric Abetz, Finance Minister Mathias Cormann, and Tony Abbott all exceeded the 40 per cent target that had been set to try and manage gender discrepancy in government.
Only the day before the leak he'd been assuring the press: "There is no greater enthusiast than me for seeing more women in positions of power and influence in Parliament, in ministries right across the country, I can assure you of that. I am very committed to that". We assume he forgot to add, "starting riiiiiiiiight now!"
When opposition leader Bill Shorten questioned him over his history of appointing women the Prime Minister responded: "The Government remains committed to its target of women holding 40 per cent of positions on Australian Government boards, and I point to the official data which will be published in the gender balance on Australian Government boards report 2014/15 later this year and it shows that women held 40 per cent of Communications portfolio board appointments."
He hit back at Shorten's determination to undermine him saying: "He has no compassion, no feeling for the thousands of people watching Question Time week after week whom he bores and drives to the point of complete frustration with one pointless political claim after another."
Great job focusing on the task at hand guys.
But his attitude towards women is obviously playing on minds. The day of the leak, Labor deputy leader Tanya Plibersek accused him of "mansplaining" when he failed to answer her question, "Can the Prime Minister confirm how much he will restore to the foreign aid program after the cabinet he was part of cut the budget by $11.3 billion?"
Turnbull replied, "If the honourable member wanted to get a serious answer she should ask a serious question." Which to be fair is pretty patronising.
As a comedy side note, her comment reportedly resulted in a frontbencher asking if she had said "manscaping".
But most of the above incidents played out when Turnbull was under the microscope as the new Prime Minister. Taking a look at his voting record while in parliament shows an approach to women's rights that's largely in line with the rest of the party.
The only women-focused issue he's actively pushed for is government administered paid parental leave, although take note—his enthusiasm doesn't cover same-sex couples. Parenting groups are already calling for him to make good on his commitment to help mums return to work by making childcare and parental leave more affordable and accessible. They're asking him to demonstrate his dedication to working mums by abandoning proposed changes to the troubled paid parental leave scheme. But like erradicating family violence, time will tell if he plans to do more than talk about the issue.
Interestingly in 2006 he showed he was a moderately open to increasing the availability of abortion drugs, which is a small, but positive sign he has a modern approach to body rights.
The Prime Minister is clearly conscious of the gender breakdowns in Australian society, and keen to demonstrate that he's a more engaged PM than Abbott. But he still has a history of toeing the Liberal line, which traditionally isn't overtly progressive on these issues. In short, if you're a woman he's cool with you, as long as you're not indigenous, gay, disabled, a student, work for a public broadcaster, or care about carbon emissions. I guess we'll take change one demographic at a time.
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