Will the US election bring gender to the political forefront in Australia?

Gender has been a persistent undercurrent in the 2024 US presidential race. 

This goes beyond one of the candidates being a woman. It is present in the Kamala Harris campaign’s focus on highlighting stories of women who have had their lives put at risk by strict abortion bans, in Donald Trump’s courting of what former US congresswoman Barbara Comstock termed the “bro vote”, and in JD Vance’s pointed barbs at “childless cat ladies”. 

In the final week of the US election campaign, Trump held a rally in Madison Square Garden where he railed against the “enemy from within”. Guest speakers, including Hulk Hogan and podcaster Tony Hinchcliffe, made headlines for their racist and misogynistic comments.  

Harris’s closing efforts were no less star-studded. Michelle Obama used her time to emphasise that a women’s vote is private – a message presumably aimed at women in Republican households who are quietly considering voting against the grain. 

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Polls suggest that the gender gap – the difference between the vote margin among men and women – may be the largest on record.  

Australia’s gender gap

At an event jointly hosted by the ANU Global Institute for Women’s Leadership and the University of Sydney’s United States Studies Centre, Comstock, a former republican Congresswoman turned Harris campaigner, described the mood in the US as tense but unifying. 

“Women, no matter where you come out on the abortion issue, have responded and are voting on this issue. I think this is going to be more impactful than the polls are capturing – plus this general repulsion to the misogyny of Donald Trump,” Comstock said. 

“No less than Liz Cheney, who has been doing events with the Vice President, pointed out that even as a pro-life woman, she is very concerned with these extreme bills.”  

But gender divides in politics are not unique to America. Globally, the worldviews of young men and women are diverging – including here in Australia. 

Talbot Mills Research shows that if Australians were voting in the American election,  Harris would have the lead. But there is also a pronounced gender split in preferred candidate between young men and women. 

Former Senator and the first woman of South Asian heritage to be elected to Australian Parliament, Lisa Singh, argued that the US election will have lessons for Australia – particularly on how to campaign across the gender divides, and whether the issue of gender will mobilise certain constituencies to vote in a particular way.  

She has also observed signs that some Australian politicians have eyed an opportunity in placing abortion back in the public discourse. The recent state election in Queensland had abortion as a central issue, and South Australia’s upper house narrowly voted down amendments that would require an induced birth rather than abortion after 28 weeks.  

“I think that is really quite concerning,” Singh said. “Political parties are about appealing more to one demographic; they should be about bringing people together.” 

A double-edged sword

 If Harris becomes America’s first female president, will her gender be seen as an issue? 

Singh reflected on how gender was weaponised against former prime minister Julia Gillard by her opponents and some sections of the media.  

“That disproportionate focus on appearance, on family structures, on a woman’s ability to lead, often formed part of Julia Gillard’s daily challenges in public office. She noted, herself, that gendered insults became the go-to political weapon when discussions on divisive issues turned turbulent,” Sigh said. 

Bruce Wolpe, Gillard’s former chief of staff, said while female leadership in both countries is slowly being normalised, leaders may feel reluctant to explicitly talk about gender as it may be “weaponised”. 

Professor Michelle Ryan from the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership at ANU said the reluctance to make gender explicit has been one of the most noticeable features of the US election. 

“I think we know from the research that talking about gender really overtly is a bit of a double-edged sword. 

“In terms of the issues that are playing themselves out – Roe v Wade, health, education, family issues – these are all gendered issues. But it’s interesting to me that it’s not being played out overtly.”   

Ryan said she wondered about the impact of having a candidate and potential US president discuss gender – not just for America, but also countries like Australia.  

“Women are often questioned about whether they be good leaders for everyone. Whereas men are never questioned about their ability to lead whole countries or represent everyone,” she said. 

“I think it would be good for women, for the women’s movement, for all of this to be addressed more overtly, rather than in the sidelines.  

“Because I think we’re not going to get the sorts of advancements we need by doing things on the sideline. We need to address some of these things full on.”