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She famously called out Tony Abbott on sexism when she was Prime Minster, and Julia Gillard has now urged America to do the same for Hillary Clinton as she prepares for the final sprint to the White House ahead of the US presidential election in November.
Australia’s first female Prime Minister has penned an article for the New York Times, advising Americans to condemn sexist attacks against Clinton.
The letter comes as Republican supporters have created buttons featuring misogynistic slogans such as “KFC Hillary Special 2 fat thighs 2 small breasts…left wing.” (And if this sounds familiar, it’s because Gillard was faced with similar slogans.)
In her New York Times piece, Gillard wrote: “She knows what it’s like to be the subject of the stereotype that a powerful woman cannot be likeable, that if she is commanding then she must be incapable of empath… If a female candidate notes the sexism of all this, she is told — as Mrs. Clinton has — that she’s playing the ‘woman card,’ or is fragile, or a whiner.”
“Every Democrat, every Republican, every person who believes that women and men are equal should call out any sexism,” she wrote. “Mrs Clinton should not have to deal with this alone.”
Gillard likened radio host Alan Jones calls for her to be placed in a chaff bag and taken out to sea to calls from Trump supporters for Clinton to face a firing squad, but expressed her hopes for more support going forward. “I hope there are many brave voices naming and shaming any sexism in the presidential contest.”
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