A ‘Q&A’ Panel Full Of Women Just Roasted The Crap Out Of Scott Morrison’s Women’s Day Speech

A Q&A panel full of women has taken Scott Morrison to task for the cringeworthy remarks he made on International Women’s Day. And really, can you blame them?

Morrison made international headlines over the weekend for his tone deaf speech, in which he said “we don’t want to see women rise only on the basis of others doing worse”. He then defended himself by pointing out that he has both a wife and two daughters, and therefore couldn’t possibly be a sexist.

Despite this rock solid defence, Morrison’s views about equality were the subject of the first question on Monday night’s Q&A, with an audience member asking the all-women panel why Scott Morrison seemed to view the chance for men to get more involved in family life as a loss rather than an opportunity.

First out the gate was Labor frontbencher Linda Burney, who called the comments “an absolute own goal”.

“I think it’s very worrying that the leader of this nation would make that comment on International Women’s Day,” Burney said. “It’s really putting women down and not understanding what feminism is, and not understanding what equality is about.”

“I think that the really important point to make here is that for women to achieve equality requires men to understand and men to be supportive of that notion, unlike the Prime Minister [who] clearly is not.”

Next up was government minister Karen Andrews, who defended Morrison’s record on gender issues while conceding that his comments were “clunky”.

“Were his words clunky? Look, yeah, a little bit,” she told the Q&A audience. “I have personally found him to be very supportive of women. So I’m prepared to forgive the clunky words, because I know that the respect for women is there.”

Why do some people see equal opportunity for women as a loss of opportunity for men? #QandA pic.twitter.com/zCsG9IAuaz

— ABC Q&A (@QandA) March 11, 2019

Less forgiving was Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young, who accused Morrison of fundamentally misunderstanding the concept of equality.

“I didn’t just think that the words were clunky,” she said. “Those words were written in a speech, a prepared statement from the Prime Minister of the country on International Women’s Day, and frankly, I think it says everything about Scott Morrison. I think it says everything about his misunderstanding of what is at the heart of the struggle for equality.”

“What he said to women right across the country on Friday was that, ‘yeah, you can be equal, just not as equal as men’. That’s what he said. And it’s not on. We have this debate about merit. Well, there’s some pretty mediocre blokes up there, and if women rise to the top and knock some of them off, well, go for it. This whole idea that we have to hold back women’s advancement by fear of upsetting some blokes, I really think it’s the wrong perspective to be promoted from our Prime Minister, particularly on International Women’s Day.”

“What he said to women… was ‘Yeah, you can be equal, just not as equal as men” @sarahinthesen8 on Scott Morrison’s #IWD2019 speech #QandA pic.twitter.com/OUxsB8dZVR

— ABC Q&A (@QandA) March 11, 2019