Parliament needs to change!
THE FORMER LABOR MP TALKS TO WHO ABOUT THE SUCCESSES AND STRUGGLES OF WOMEN IN GOVERNMENT AND WHY SHE’S SPEAKING OUT
Kate Ellis had only been a politician for a few weeks when she was approached in a Canberra bar during after-work drinks by a junior male staffer. “[He said], ‘The only thing anyone really wants to know about you, Kate, is how many blokes you had to f--k to get into this parliament,’” the former Labor MP writes in her new book, Sex, Lies and Question Time. “Sadly, those things are so common that by the time I left I probably wouldn’t even have remembered that story – it would just be blended in with all of the others,” Ellis tells WHO. “You do just become a bit acclimatised to it.”
The “it” she is referring to is the toxic workplace culture of Australia’s parliament. The 43-year-old spent 15 years in various MP roles, introducing national quality standards for childcare and finalising the national plan to end violence against women and children.
But amongst the many triumphs she achieved during her tenure, Ellis also faced years of harassment, sexual slurs and destructive gossip. “Once I got out of parliament and out of politics I started reflecting a bit on some of the experiences I had when I was there,” she says of writing her book. “I was [also] curious to see whether this was something that was shared more broadly by women in parliament and spoke to some others to see.”
Her hunch turned out to be more than on point. In her book, Ellis talks to fellow female politicians Julie Bishop, Pauline Hanson, and former Prime Minister Julia Gillard – to name just a few – all of whom had their own experiences in dealing with blatant misogyny, gender discrimination and sexual harassment within the walls of Parliament House. “They were so honest, open and generous,” the mum-of-two shares of her former colleagues. “We could relate to each other and had some shared experiences that I think helped open people up.”
What she couldn’t have predicted is the auspicious timing of her book’s release. Ellis had not only written the whole thing but sent it off to the printers when former parliament staffer Brittany Higgins came forward with her harrowing rape allegations. “That made me reflect on the fact that for my book, I spoke to elected women in the parliament but actually it’s the unelected women who work in that building who most urgently need change,” she said of the highly publicised scandal.
Just a few pages into Sex, Lies and Question Time and readers won’t know whether to laugh, cry or scream out of pure frustration as Ellis details the damaging, destructive and downright ridiculous challenges women in government face every day. While some are stories we’ve heard whispers of before or even seen detailed in the media, Ellis has allowed a more accurate picture to be painted – from
“I’m really determined to keep that pressure on” – ELLIS
the women who experienced it themselves. “I think previously we saw them as individual incidents,” she tells WHO. “We saw them as something that came up and got attention every now and then. But what we’re seeing now is the pattern and recognising that these incidents are all linked back to a culture of general disrespect of women.”
By releasing her book, Ellis hopes to keep the spotlight firmly on not just the treatment of women in parliament but nationwide. “Parliament needs to urgently change,” she says. “And I’m really determined to keep that pressure on and make sure that we do see more women in our parliament but also that they are treated better.”
After reading Ellis’ ordeal, many would be hard-pressed to understand why it took her so long to leave. But she insists she still believes that it is the “best job in the world” and wants to encourage young women not to be turned off a career in politics by what they’ve seen. “There is nothing that is more rewarding or inspiring or interesting as a profession,” she says. “The benefit the next generation of women have is that they can see the experiences of those women that went before them and hopefully they can go in with their eyes open.”
But does she think that parliament
– a workplace often appearing so steeped in tradition and run on archaic methods – can change? “I do,” she admits. “I look at workplaces across Australia that have modernised and there’s no reason that parliament can’t do the same. And I think they’ll have to because the community will demand it.”