The Emergence of the First Female Prime Minister within Australia - Essay Example

Apply C Wright Mills (1959) Sociological Imagination to describe the emergence of the first female prime minister within Australia; in what way does the sociological imagination helps us to understand this social issue? The notion that Australian today live in a time that is characterized by endless modifications has become a cliché. In fact, the permanence of these modifications has been acknowledged among social theorists. It is certain that, political reforms started a permanent procedure of revolution in modern societies. This manifestation of change has been described using the word globalization. Traditionally, roles in Australia were sex segregated whereby women were underrepresented in managerial positions, politics, and in scientific positions among others (Bessant & Watts, 2007). This has been emphasized by Mills when he stated that, ‘every society has certain unique characteristics which include the opinions concerning the proper responsibilities of men and women’. However, external influences have changed individual’s ways of thinking while affirmative actions policies have been put in place to fight for gender equality in all spheres. This current change especially, the emergence of the first female prime minister within Australia has been explained by various social theorists using different sociological perspectives. This essay describes this current change in Australia and tries to explain how the sociological imagination helps us to understand this social issue. Julia Eileen Gillard began her political career in her second year at the University of Adelaide. She joined the labour club and became a strong campaigner in fighting the federal education budget slash. Gillard moved to Melbourne in 1983 and became the second woman to head the Australian Union of Students. From 1996-1998, Gillard worked as a Chief of Staff to John Brumby, a Victorian opposition leader. Some of the tasks she undertook include drafting the affirmative-action guidelines within the Labour Party, which was aimed at empowering women (Curtis & Hall, 2010). In 1998, Gillard was elected to the house of the representatives at the federal election. She was appointed to the seat of Lalor, Victoria under the Australian Labour Party. The Labour Party was defeated in 2001 and Gillard was appointed to the shadow cabinet with portfolios of Population and Immigration. In 2003, the portfolios of Reconciliation and Indigenous Affairs were added. She was then promoted to be the Shadow Health Minister in 2003 and gained additional duties of controlling the opposition business in the House of Representatives (Curtis & Hall, 2010). After the Labour Party was defeated in the October 2004 elections, Gillard expected to challenge Jenny Macklin in the position of the deputy leader but she did not. She was spoken of as the Party’s potential future leader though she stayed out of leadership races until 2005, when she emerged as a possible successor for Mark Latham along with Kevin Rudd and Kim Beazley. However, she denied contesting for the Party’s leadership. In 2006, Gillard was appointed the deputy leader of the Australian Labour Party and was sworn as the first female Deputy Prime Minister in 2007 after the Labour Party won the federal election. In June 2010, after an agreement between Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Gillard, as well as other party leaders, Rudd announced to the media about their agreement to hold the leadership ballot the following day, in order to determine the Labour Party’s leadership as well as the country’s prime ministership position. After the elections were carried out, Gillard assumed party leadership unopposed and therefore became Australia’s first female prime minister. She was sworn in as Australia’s 27th Prime Minister (Curtis & Hall, 2010). This occurring can be viewed from a psychological perspective. Sociological issues are matters that affect our lives either directly or indirectly, and are considered as problems. A sociological perspective emphasizes that the social experiences of the people underlie their behaviour, what is referred to as an intersection of biography and history. Looking at our case analysis, some of the sociological issues involved include feminism, sex discrimination, women education and dominance. To begin with, the dominance of men over women was historically considered as a natural and right. The society had brought us in a way in that we tend to believe that men had power over their female counterparts. As women acquired education and other rights, their readiness to accept male dominance diminished. Looking at the contemporary society, women have almost equal rights to men in all dimensions of life. Women have risen to power to take the positions that were once considered to be exclusively dominated by men. One of the major consequences of this alteration has been clearly illustrated in this study, where Gillard rose to the position of the prime minister after this position had been domineered by men for quite some time. With this in mind, we can therefore note that sociological imagination has enabled us to understand these changes more clearly (Henslin et al., 2011). It has actually helped us understand why there was need to avert male dominance and instead introduce equal rights when it comes to power (Furze, et al. 2008). Women education is another sociological issue that is involved in our case study. In the past, women’s intellect was confined by an unjustifiable limit. Women were considered to posses none of the objects or things in life that would make education necessary for them, and thus education was not given to women. This was meant to undermine them and prevent them from taking some of the societal roles (Willis, 2004). However, the sociological perspective looks at how such issues affect our lives, because growing up as a male or female does not only affect our aspirations, but how we feel and relate with others. This perspective gives us a new perception about life and how the social world functions (Henslin et al., 2011). Sociological imagination assists us in understanding this social issue: the emergence of the first female prime minister within Australia. It is clear that, sociological imagination helps individuals in understanding almost all aspects of life (Mills, 2000). Sociological imagination has been understood by different sociologists in different ways. For instance, Mills understands sociological imagination as the vivid understanding of the association between experience and the larger society, the capability to shift from one perspective to another for instance, from psychological to political and the capacity to perceive things in a social manner and how they interact and affect each other. In order to have a sociological imagination, individuals must live their traditional ways of thinking and have a fresh point of view. Similar to many societies, the relative status of men and women in Australia is defined. Many areas of economic, social, religious and political remain gendered, and usually women are disadvantaged. It is true that, women in Australia were underrepresented in managerial positions, professions, and scientific occupations while overrepresented in clerical and administrative positions. Additionally, women generally spend more time compared to men performing unpaid domestic chores (Najman & Western, 2000). However, women have rights to vote in the federal elections, their progress of entering public office was limited and slow. For instance, in 1995, only twenty percent of women represented the local, federal and state government. This is in disagreement with the democratic principles, which requires that, all beings should obtain equal political representation. Nevertheless, the emergence of the first female prime minister within Australia Julia Gillard in 2010 revealed a step of change in the continent. It is definite that, Gillard, who took leadership unopposed, had more support to fend off Rudd challenge. Thus, currently, Australia is under a female prime minister, which signifies a break from tradition to modernization. This can be understood through sociological imagination. In this case, sociological imagination assists us in making sense of the social world, and documenting modifications in cultural ideas. As explained earlier, one of the definitions of sociological imagination is change of viewpoint and ways of thinking from traditions to modernization. The fact that, Gillard received a higher support compared to her male counterpart reveals that, Australia in general has broken from the older traditions. This as a result has led to gender equality and alleviation of discrimination among women. In this case, sociological imagination has resulted to good practices which are believed to promote modification that is respectful of individuals (Holmes et al, 2007). These changes, as Mills pointed out are influenced by people’s experience- the external factors- which become part of their motivation and thinking. This can be linked to Karl Marx theory of class conflict which points out that, individuals should try to alter the society they live in. Marx believed that, class conflict is the center of human history. He stated that, in order to end this conflict, individuals should unite, break the chain of classes in society which as a result will lead to a society free from discrimination, and exploitation. In this case, roles in the society should be determined by abilities but not cultural. Globalization is seen as one of the major influences of change. Mostly, people break from their cultures, norms and traditions due to globalization. What takes place in other nations has a direct effect on our lives, our societies, and more and more, our welfare is influenced by the welfare of individuals in other countries. Seeing how their behaviours and orientations are influenced by their society, assist us in understanding how our society affects our own behaviours and how we feel concerning life in general. Thus, we can conclude that, all individuals are fundamentally social animals in the fact that, our behavior is influenced by the responses and expectations of others (Mills, 2000). In addition, these interactions assist individuals in understanding sociological problems, which affects their societies. Thus in our case we can conclude that, through globalization, and change of perspectives, Australia has been able to break from their cultural ideas fighting the challenges of feminism, and discrimination which has made the country to receive their first female prime minister. To conclude, an unexpected revolt within the Australia Labour Party, the country’s ruling gave the nation its first female prime minister, Julia Gillard. This actually came after a consensus between parties to carry out a leadership ballot within its party, after which Kevin Rudd was overthrown, giving rise to a new prime minister, Gillard. A critical analysis of this case illustrates some of the sociological issues involved such as feminism, male dominance, discrimination and women education. These are some of the issues that were historically viewed as right and natural within the society, but have today significantly changed, courtesy of sociological imagination. It has enabled us to acquire a new perception regarding social life. It is evident that the contemporary society is undergoing through a rapid social change, a fact that has proved to be disorienting for the people, and the sociological perspective has enabled us understand how and why these changes are taking place. References Bessant, J & Watts, R. 2007. Sociology Australia, 3rd ed. Sydney: Allen & Unwin. Curtis, L. and Hall, E. 2010. Gillard becomes first female PM. ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2010/s2935655.htm. Retrieved April 5, 2011. Furze, B., Savy, P., Brym, R. and Lie, J. 2008. Sociology in Today’s World, Melbourne: Cengage. Henslin, J., Possamai, A. and A. Possamai-Inesedy 2011. Sociology: A Down to Earth Approach, Frenchs Forest, NSW: Pearson Australia. Holmes, D., Hughes, K. and Julian, R. 2007. Australian Sociology: A Changing Society, 2nd ed. Sydney: Pearsons. Mills, C. 2000. The Sociological Imagination, 40th anniversary edition. Oxford: Allen & Unwin. Najman, J. and Western, J. eds. 2000. A Sociology of Australian Society, 3rd ed. Melbourne, Macmillan. Willis, E 2004. The Sociological Quest: An Introduction to the Study of Social Life, 4th edition Sydney: Allen and Unwin. Read More