NEWS
campusreview.com.au
Former US secretary of state Madeleine Albright
Gender politics
Pathways program aims to put more
women into Parliamentary seats.
“T
here is a special place in hell for women who don’t
support other women.”
The somewhat infamous line from Madeleine Albright,
the first woman to be US secretary of state, was Labor deputy leader
Tanya Plibersek’s message at the launch of a University of Melbourne
program aimed at getting more women into politics.
The Pathways to Politics for Women program is a non-partisan
scheme recently launched at Parliament House by Plibersek and
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop. It aims to address the fact that women
occupy less than 30 per cent of Australian parliamentary positions.
The University of Melbourne will run the program, which was made
possible by a donation from the philanthropic Trawalla Foundation.
It’s modelled on a similar plan at Harvard and connects participants
with politicians and industry leaders to kick-start political careers.
The program will be open to women who are University of
Melbourne graduate students and alumni. Professor Janine
O’Flynn, from the university’s School of Political and Social
Sciences, said it aims to break down unconscious gender biases.
“There are unconscious barriers,” O’Flynn explained. “[They]
might mean people feel they don’t get the same treatment, [which]
would probably discourage some women from entering politics.
We all can see that there’s sometimes a difference between how
women politicians are treated in the media, versus the men. That’s
an international phenomenon, not exclusively an Australian one. We
need to work with political parties and with party machines to deal
with some of those unconscious biases people have.”
Plibersek welcomed male support of gender equality and
acknowledged the support she has received from colleagues of both
genders throughout her career. She said this program would allow
the future women of politics to network and develop solidarity.
Plibersek added that gender equality in politics is essential.
“We make the best decisions when we have the widest possible
representation of life experiences,” she said. ■
Counter-terror needs soft side
Academic warns against actions
that might radicalise more
young people unnecessarily.
H
ard counter-terrorism responses to
the Paris bombing risk neglecting
de-radicalisation programs, which
schools play a key role in, an expert has said.
Hard responses include military action,
increased security, toughened legislative
measures and clamping down with
law enforcement.
Nationals MP Andrew Fraser has urged
that borders be closed to refugees from the
Middle East. France has retaliated for the
attacks by launching airstrikes against the
Islamic State in Syria and promising to close
mosques preaching extremist ideologies.
But Dr Clarke Jones, Australian National
University de-radicalisation expert, warned
against responses that isolate sections of
the community, which he argued would
only encourage division and further
radicalisation. Long-term anti-terrorism
strategies should balance tough national
security with softer interventions, he said.
Jones said schools have a critical role
to play in this, although programs must be
low-key to be effective.
“We need to be very careful that it doesn’t
draw unnecessary attention on schools,”
he explained. “We all struggle when we’re
growing up, and some kids slowly drop out
of education or start struggling with it. So we
need to maintain school programs to make
sure kids don’t become vulnerable. Any type
of intervention within schools will have to be
done under the radar.”
There is no blanket solution to
radicalisation, as the reasons behind it are
complex, Jones said. De-radicalisation must
be tailored for each individual case. But
Jones advised intervention should be early
and is most effective when it’s voluntary.
The challenge lies in making kids realise their
behaviour and actions are wrong.
“All kids have some form of close
relationship somewhere in their life,” Jones
explained. “It could be a family member,
it could be a family friend or it could be a
teacher. It’s all about utilising those close
relationships to start introducing people
into this circle of trust, and the earlier that
can happen, the earlier we can start to
introduce service providers, psychological
counselling, religious mentors or all that
sort of stuff.” ■
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