Slumbering Green

Linda Reynolds’ humiliating backdown in the face of public outcry about her handling of a case of sexual abuse in Parliament showed me that things are the same now in workplaces as they were when I worked in offices. Calling a staffer a “lying cow” didn’t appear to me to be at all striking. In fact, it seemed to fit the patterns of behaviour that had been followed by the – male and female – bosses I’d worked for for decades. Hyper-aggressive and partisan conduct is rewarded by organisations that want to succeed. So toxic masculinity is the lifeblood of the Australian workplace.  Anything except an exception for if you want to be successful in an institution you have to be able to lie convincingly and toe the line. Loyalty and duplicity are vigorously rewarded and Reynolds’ response to Brittany Higgins – the staffer who was subject to an assault in Parliament – is symptomatic of this. Deny, deny, deny. Attack, attack, attack. The funny thing is that the people who are most vocal on ...

While it’s laudable that so much attention has been focused on the treatment of women by a minority of people – blokes who, by their depraved conduct, let the side down – perhaps this is a good time to think about real change that can be brought forward. Let’s not leave the cutting of the prosperity gap as a task for a future generation. For years now we’ve been hearing of older women in the rental market who’re struggling to put food on the table. Many women also suffer financially due to their loss of years used for childrearing. Years out of work due to the need to look after kids. Superannuation at retirement lower than men. No ownership of the home.  Poverty after fifty-five can be particularly galling for women who’ve contributed to society in all manner of ways only to find themselves trying to pay the rent out of their pension. It pushes people away from major urban collectives to the fringes in rural and regional Australia – where services are not as good as they are in th...