A Critical Analysis Of Julia Gillard's Misogyny

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The “Misogyny” speech by Julia Gillard, the prime minister during the time, was performed in the house of representatives on 9th of October 2012. Clear usage of her role as prime minister, her gender and word choice are shown as effective shaming of the leader of the opposition, Tony Abbot. The speech was given because of Abbots sexist and Misogynistic statements. Because of Abbots position in parliament as opposition leader, he should be targeted to maintain power in the government and giving the elected labor party a good public image in the regards to sexism and Misogyny. In doing so she was able to defend her standpoint as a female minister of Parliament. To convey Gillard 's intention throughout the speech she uses many clear language and literary features that become very effective when being read or performed to an audience without the ability to read along with the speech. This can be seen with the repetition of “I am offended.” This simple …show more content…

By addressing Tony Abbott as the “leader of the opposition” in her speech she takes away his personal identity and leaves him just with a superficial political title. This act shows her dominance, power and hierarchy in parliament. The Degradation of Tony Abbott is the first light attack for his unacceptable statements against women. As Gillard is the first non-male prime minister of Australia she sets the Standard with her own register of language. With this female register Gillard promotes more power as the content originates from a female minister of Parliament. If the “misogyny” speech was given by a male representative it would not have maximum effect as the same speech given by a female. This is because the speeches subject is personalised to the speech 's author, in this case Julia Gillard. Because of this Gillard 's, gender in the speech cannot be labelled as hypocritical towards female