While speaking to a Republican fundraising dinner in Washington last week, US President Donald Trump referred to Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) — the NYC Congresswoman touted to be Trump's biggest 'star power' rival — as 'a young bartender'.
Trump's words, many of which failed to actually form a complete sentence as per his favoured 'stream of consciousness' style, included: 'The Green New Deal, done by a young bartender, 29 years old,' followed by, 'You have senators that are professionals, that you guys know, that have been there for a long time ... and they're standing behind her shaking. They're petrified of her.'
In attempting to belittle AOC's intellect, age and class, Trump was juxtaposing her with 'senators that are professionals' who have 'been there for a long time'. The obvious assertion being that AOC is not a 'professional', and is apparently too young to be one anyway.
AOC, a second generation Puerto Rican American, supported herself through tertiary study, and graduated cum laude with a degree in economics and international relations from Boston University. Last year she became the youngest woman ever to serve in the US Congress — perhaps largely due to the fact that she is a Democrat who truly 'stands for something', and that makes her stand out.
In a short amount of time, she has convinced 2020 presidential candidates to support her radical Green New Deal. She has used social media to get political campaign finance reform on the national agenda, with her Twitter bio proudly reading '100 per cent People-Funded, no corporate PAC $' (PAC stands for political action committee).
Essentially, AOC is running on a platform of independence, and the conviction that her role as a lawmaker is to represent and serve the people. Perhaps not surprisingly given her stance on a number of issues, she identifies as Catholic, and has written on the impact of her faith on her campaign for criminal justice reform in America magazine.
No wonder Trump wants to reduce the evidently brilliant AOC to 'a young bartender'. AOC did bartend as a side gig while also working for an educational non-profit, because unlike so many in her own party, she did not come from wealth — a fact many Trump supporters would consider a badge of honour.
"There's almost always a very generous nod to 'grey area', 'complexity' or 'context' when a man behaves poorly in a work environment."
Yet many things about AOC will be used against her on both sides of politics. Depressingly, the fact she is a woman is a near guarantee that Trump will enter the fight 'gloves off', willing to stoop as low as his imagination can take him.
Trump has a well-publicised history of sexist speech and behaviour, both within the Oval Office and without. He once stated that no one would vote for his former rival Carly Fiorina because of her face. Beyond his inflammatory rhetoric are also sexual assault and rape allegations, with some 19 women having made claims against him since the 1980s. Add in the vulgar and grossly misogynistic recorded tape of a conversation between Trump and Billy Bush which surfaced in 2016, and it's clear that respect for women is not a value Trump cares to even feign.
Of course, gender discrimination and sexist attitudes are not restricted to the political arena. While in a previous professional role, I was publicly labelled a 'feminazi' by a man whose work I dared to correct — a task which was part of my designated role at the company. Not content to leave it at name-calling, he also secretly changed back my corrections to his work not once, but several times, including after the actions were called out as entirely inappropriate. For this contemptuous behaviour, he suffered no consequences whatsoever.
You could respond that this is an exception, and a failing of upper management, but experience has shown me that there's almost always a very generous nod to 'grey area', 'complexity' or 'context' when a man behaves poorly in a work environment. On the flipside, I've seen high performance from women routinely discounted, or even met with derision; while any mistakes a woman makes are far more likely to 'prove' a pre-ordained notion that she was never really fit to be there.
With these societal messages always incoming, I find myself in awe when I see a woman maintain her position in the public eye without becoming a target; who is able to put up a resistance to those who would try to detract from her worth because of her gender.
It's not just AOC who has me star-struck, but also New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern — who seems to set the bar higher every time she speaks — and the new Prime Minister of Iceland, Katrín Jakobsdóttir, who is also posing a refreshing alternative to right-wing populism. Any woman who makes it as far as these women have must be an incredibly resilient human being.
I know because I can imagine what they have been up against: the unspoken sexist assumptions, the little comments which cast doubt, the implied pressure to flirt with the sleazy colleague who has far more power than his talents merit, the focus on one's appearance as opposed to one's ideas, the need to achieve so much more to receive less credit. To preserve one's humanity and 'keep on' in the face of these obstacles is perhaps the best evidence of leadership potential I can imagine. Above all else, it shows backbone — an attribute sorely lacking in the political leaders vying for top dog in Australia.
Oh, what I would give to be able to vote for an Australian Ardern in May, or to see either of the major parties boldly back a woman leader with the grit and humanity exhibited by AOC. Because the 'same-old' bungling status quo of Australian politics is failing us. The lack of support for women looking to become tomorrow's political leaders is failing us.
Limiting beliefs around gender, which succeed only in holding Australia back, have never been so deeply interrogated. The question Australians face — a question which has always been central to any political discussion — is whether we want to proactively embrace the changing tide of gender equality, or be dragged by it kicking and screaming.
Megan Graham is a Melbourne based writer.