Julia Gillard, Australia's New Prime Minister: Fulfilling Germaine Greer's Dream

Some amazing news from Prison Island which will have disgruntled Hillary supporters wishing we lived in a parliamentary democracy: Less than three years after he led his Labor party out of the political wilderness, Kevin Rudd has been replaced as Prime Minister of Australia by his deputy, Julia Gillard. While Rudd’s ouster is more a case of internal politics in a Labor party that always liked him much less than the voters did, Gillard is still the first woman to hold the office, and in macho Australia, that’s kind of a big deal.

The Australian’s Caroline Overington expresses the joy of the ladies on Prison Island and puts it in context.

We texted each other, saying: “Woo-Hoo!” and “Yee-ha!”

Then, too, we looked back, toward the generation that made it possible, the women who fought through the late 1960s and early 1970s for the right to keep working when they got married or pregnant; who refused to get married, or if they did, refused to take their husband’s name; who chose not to have children, or else to have children, without bothering to put on the white dress; who ditched the promise “to obey”; who argued with their husbands over who had to do the dishes, and vacuum the floor and pick up the children; who took mortgages in their own names, and voted for whom they pleased; and travelled solo; who battled their way into university courses, and soon were topping them.

They got called names — hairy feminists, ragged dykes, frigid moles, you name it — and it hurt, but they kept going.

Also worth noting: Hillard’s partner is a hairdresser named Tim, who seems like a pretty cool guy. Anyway, interesting stuff all around. I guess the lesson here is don’t mess with Robin Williams.