The Australian Press Council has declined to entertain a complaint about a newspaper cartoon that depicted a Council CEO in an apron with a broom.
The cartoon was published in the Bairnsdale Advertiser after the appointment of Fiona Weigall as the first female CEO of East Gippsland Shire Council.
Gender equity advocate Ruth McGowan OAM said the cartoon was “lazy, but it was also reinforcing a stereotype” depicting Ms Weigall “with a broom in a little apron, looking tired and frumpy and sweeping out male staff”.
Ms McGowan lodged a complaint with the Press Council, but told the Local Government News Roundup that it didn’t get off the ground.
She said it “went nowhere because it didn’t meet their standards for something that was offensive, which I find a bit puzzling.”
“Let’s not underestimate the power of visual images to subtly tell women where they belong, which is in the kitchen with a broom and a pinafore on her,” said Ms McGowan.
With local government elections just months away in New South Wales and Victoria, Ms McGowan and ‘Put Her Name On It’ co-founder Kerry Wilson will join Chris Eddy to discuss the current state of gender equality in local representation and public commemoration in a special episode of Roundup Unfiltered coming soon.