{"id":1733,"date":"2021-04-01T19:34:53","date_gmt":"2021-04-01T20:34:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/malvinartley.com\/blog.malvinartley.com\/?p=1733"},"modified":"2021-04-03T18:59:19","modified_gmt":"2021-04-03T19:59:19","slug":"scomos-women-problems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/malvinartley.com\/blog.malvinartley.com\/2021\/04\/01\/scomos-women-problems\/","title":{"rendered":"ScoMo\u2019s \u2018women problems\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

It would appear that some Aussie pollies assume their fortunes extend to asserting their mandated right, by virtue of being elected, to abuse women peers and young staffers. In the latest episode, from the day after Valentine\u2019s day (cringe-worthy, that) Australia has been roiled once again with yet another sex scandal, this time with Liberal Party pollies getting their jollies in Parliament House and generally harassing some of their women peers in the process. The National Party occasionally gets called out, too. Not a good look, boys. I wouldn\u2019t go so far as to call them \u2018mates\u2019. ScoMo, the PM (a.k.a. \u2018Slow Mo\u2019 and \u2018Scotty from Marketing\u2019) is not exactly helping himself or the situation, either. I could be more pointed about the matter, and I will later in this piece. But for now, we want to look at what is going on in the Aussie chart, and if there is anything in particular that would indicate such a trend over the years. (I\u2019ve heard a lot of goss on the subject, having lived there for almost 20 years. And no, I won\u2019t be telling stories. This piece isn\u2019t about prurient curiosity.)<\/span><\/p>\n

We can only cover so much here. This post will be more on the order of a general overview, given it is a large subject covering all aspects of society, and not just in Australia. But there is something unique in the Australian chart that points to the type of behaviour cited in the opening paragraph, as well as its solution and also something unique that speaks to the empowerment of women in Australia and gender roles. And this is not some \u2018woke\u2019 gender politics piece. This is instead about a fair go for all Australians, but especially women. With the preceding in mind, here\u2019s the present situation as it has evolved<\/a><\/span>:<\/span><\/p>\n

A report carried by The Australian newspaper and the national Ten Network on Monday [15 Feb] revealed that several staffers had filmed themselves performing sex acts in Parliament House, including on the desk of at least one female lawmaker, and shared the images on a special Facebook group chat page. Prime Minister Morrison [ScoMo] told reporters Tuesday that he was \u201cshocked and disgusted\u201d [That\u2019s the usual response by leaders to such allegations.] by the report, and that a lawmaker\u2019s staff member has been fired for taking part in the group.<\/span><\/p>\n

Well, that\u2019s bad enough. And as usual, an underling was thrown under the bus to soften the blow, hoping it would save the pollies involved and that it would tamp down anger in the populace. This time, however, it didn\u2019t work. But wait\u2026there\u2019s more (from the same link):<\/span><\/p>\n

The prime minister and his conservative Liberal Party has come under intense scrutiny in recent weeks over a series of allegations of sexual misconduct within its ranks. The most serious allegation came from Brittany Higgins [remember the name], a former staff member of Defense Minister Linda Reynolds, who said she was raped by a senior staffer in Parliament House in 2019. Another involves Attorney-General Christian Porter, who has also been accused of raping a 16-year-old girl in 1988 when he was 17, an allegation he denies. The scandals prompted mass rallies across Australia more than two weeks ago with protesters demanding an end to sexual violence against women.<\/span><\/p>\n

These protests had their start in a lone Facebook post, calling for a \u201cMarch4Justice\u201d and were quickly picked up by tens-of-thousands of Aussies, many men included, who joined in marches in protest of the abuses against women around the country. They highlight what is and has been an ongoing problem for years in the halls of power and across Australia regarding violence against women and the misogynistic culture in Australian politics. That misogyny runs deep, too.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ms. Higgins, mentioned previously, has been paid compensation by her former boss<\/a><\/span>, one Linda Reynolds, after she called Higgins a \u201clying cow\u201d for making the accusations. That\u2019s not a good look, either, Ms. Reynolds, and shows another side of the coin, in that a few women are complicit in such activity, too. At least Reynolds later apologized for the remark, also paying a donation to a sexual assault charity.<\/span><\/p>\n

The protesters called for Porter to be fired and are demanding an independent investigation, but the police case against him has been dropped due to insufficient admissible<\/em> evidence<\/a><\/span>. There is more we could add about \u2018admissible evidence\u2019, but we\u2019ll have to leave it at that. The alleged victim is no longer with us to answer to that, having taken her own life. There will likely be a coronial investigation into that<\/a><\/span>, too. Porter is in process of suing the ABC and the reporter for defamation of character after publishing the allegation, even though he wasn\u2019t named in the report. He is currently on leave, looking after his mental health.<\/span><\/p>\n

Protesters had called on ScoMo to meet them at a rally, in other words to come out and face the crowd, but he declined, instead wanting to meet with a small delegation. Such a meeting with a large crowd would not have resulted in a good photo-op for ScoMo. The protesters declined the government\u2019s kind offer. Oh, but the offer to meet with the delegation is always on the table, we are told. The government\u2019s response to the allegations and treatment of the alleged victims has been too slow and has been called \u2018inadequate\u2019. Ya\u2019 think?<\/span><\/p>\n

Since the justifiable uproar and protests, perhaps the largest uprising of women in Australia\u2019s history, Higgins\u2019 allegations have also resulted in head-rolling in radio, with Jeremy Cordeaux being sacked for calling Higgins a \u201csilly little girl\u201d and questioning her allegations. Cordeaux was a veteran radio host. He can now enjoy his retirement. ScoMo has reshuffled his cabinet, side-lining Porter and Reynolds, who are away on full pay and mental health leave, and replacing them with Michaelia Cash and Peter Dutton, respectively. Opinions on those latter two are not exactly bright and shiny, either. Both Reynolds and Porter will remain in cabinet, though in reduced roles. Apparently firing them outright wasn\u2019t an option.<\/span><\/p>\n

Scott \u201cNot my Fault<\/a><\/span>\u201d Morrison has proclaimed, \u201c\u2026his new cabinet and ministry will have the “strongest” female representation an Australian government cabinet has ever had.\u201d Australian women are less than impressed, and ScoMo\u2019s \u2018women troubles\u2019 are far from over<\/a><\/span>. Another minister has been ordered into counselling for taking \u2018inappropriate\u2019 photos of women and is also on mental health leave. Progress, maybe? One gets the sense the Australian public is not holding their collective breath. That\u2019s also my view as an American-Aussie. We\u2019ll see why as we go through the Australian chart, relative to such matters.<\/span><\/p>\n

With all the preceding in mind, what is<\/em> showing about the present situation in the Australian chart, and what natal aspects may show such a trend? The swearing-in chart is below (bigger<\/a><\/span>):<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

First off, we see the Sun\/Saturn conjunction in Capricorn in Australia\u2019s 9th<\/sup> house, the latter representing a nation\u2019s belief systems, its judiciary, religion, higher educational institutions and foreign trade relations. That combination in itself contributes greatly to the \u2018tall poppy syndrome<\/a><\/span>\u2019 prevalent in Aussie culture. That conjunction also contributes to an inferiority complex exhibiting in some manner and a kind of \u2018parental worship\u2019, both of which we see in government in relation in particular these days to the United States. However, the conjunction is also trine to Mars, a combination that can lead to great wealth, which at one time caused Oz to be labelled \u2018the lucky country\u2019, taken from an ironic book title<\/a><\/span>, with the following statement therein:<\/span><\/p>\n

Australia is a lucky country run mainly by second rate people<\/strong> who share its luck. It lives on other people’s ideas, and, although its ordinary people are adaptable, most of its leaders (in all fields) so lack curiosity about the events that surround them that they are often taken by surprise<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Emphases added. Imagine ScoMo\u2019s surprise when the present allegations started to roll out in February. Reading that passage in relation to the above conjunction, we see the connections, all the while keeping in mind the book was written in the \u201860s. I know plenty of motivated and inventive people in Australia, but apparently, like the author Donald Horne said, not many of them are in government.<\/span><\/p>\n

There is something to keep in mind here, though, because it relates to gender issues and attitudes to sexuality in general. The Sun\/Saturn conjunction in Capricorn tends toward a quite conservative outlook and pronounced resistance to change. It is why, for instance, Australia tends toward conservative governments. It can also lend itself to a very elitist attitude. This has contributed to the emergence of an \u2018old boys\u2019 network\u2019 over the years, and with Mars trine the conjunction, strongly favours men, thus having produced a glass ceiling that has been difficult to break for women. Breaking that ceiling is slowly happening, but this latest scandal illustrates that reforms still have a ways to go. Women in Aussie politics did not appreciably begin to increase in number until the 1980s<\/a><\/span>. To an extent this is a carry-over from British society, with its strong caste system, and it does exist in many nations, but it is markedly problematic is Australia.<\/span><\/p>\n

What does this \u2018old boys\u2019 network look like, then? We see it in the policies that are enacted by conservative governments. And this government has held to the old model. Just in this government we have seen legislation dropping the JobKeeper subsidy for Child Care<\/a><\/span>, which applies to family child care services, the COVID restrictions which have disproportionately affected women by the lockdowns (the retail sector being predominately employing women<\/a><\/span> and largely being closed due to the restrictions), the \u2018Sports Rorts\u2019 program<\/a><\/span>, with has been called a \u2018pre-election slush fund\u2019, saying the government, \u201c\u2026used the fund as a means of “gaining political advantage for Coalition candidates in the 2019 federal election by favouring applicants located in marginal and ‘targeted’ electorates”.<\/span><\/p>\n

The COVID crisis in Australia \u2013 much of it manufactured and gamed by politicians, which we will not address here \u2013 has heightened the frustrations of women, disadvantaged them, caused them more stress at home (more so than men) and has highlighted inequities in the culture between men and women in Australian society. It has adversely affected single mothers and it has caused permanent job losses for women, primarily in the retail and services sector. We see the latter here in Italy, too, with store after store closed permanently, and to a large extent having been staffed primarily with women. Claims for unemployment have risen sharply. We can expect those to be cut or reduced soon, too, given the trend in conservative governments.<\/span><\/p>\n

Amid all the ruckus Scotty from Marketing has not marketed himself well through all this. He is seen as insensitive, evasive and weak. And in fact, those qualities show in his chart<\/a><\/span>. We won\u2019t analyse it here, but a quick look at the aspects and midpoints are pretty telling, especially the Sun\/Neptune opposition (hypersensitivity, overall weakness), making a t-square with Jupiter: \u201cOptimism in spite of little vitality. – The capacity to enjoy pleasant things in life in spite of weakness or illness, achievement of success with little exertion.\u201d (There is question about how he even came to be PM. See previous links.) And then there is the Ven=Mars\/Sat midpoint, indicating a coldness in feeling, lack of sensitivity, inability to express love and the loss of women, which is now happening at a giddying rate<\/a><\/span>. That won\u2019t help at the next election. A looming leadership spill, perhaps?<\/span><\/p>\n

Returning to the glass ceiling, this glass ceiling and misogyny has recently been recounted by many of the women in Australian politics, their stories being compiled by former Labor MP Kate Ellis<\/a>.<\/span> Their stories:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026tell a tale of systemic inequality, sexism, casual misogyny and sexual harassment. Focus on physical appearance is much greater for women, focus on their private lives, issues around motherhood, slut-shaming, personal attacks, rumours and gossip used to undermine women in a way men don’t have to face to the same extent in parliament\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

It makes it harder for you to actually focus on doing your job. There’s this casual misogyny that shows up in a whole range of ways. People are rewarded in politics for bad behaviour. If you undermine someone, then you’re more likely to be promoted.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Ellis has said that there are probably hundreds more of such stories. She was introduced to the \u2018system\u2019 very early after being elected to Parliament by a Liberal Party staffer. I won\u2019t repeat the line here, but it\u2019s in the linked article. And some men in Parliament put this sort of thing down to simply being \u2018the rough-and-tumble of Australian politics\u2019. It\u2019s a man\u2019s game, right? We wonder what their wives\/daughters\/girlfriends might say to that? (not)<\/span><\/p>\n

Getting back to the Aussie chart, there is another aspect that points to gender issues in Oz, and that is the Venus\/Mars square, denoting tensions in gender relations, disharmonious relations in that regard, excitability, lack of tact, strong and exaggerated emotions in sexual and gender relations and alternating periods of great passion and coolness. In an individual\u2019s chart this aspect forecasts a period of quite a lot of \u2018experience\u2019 in romantic entanglements as one goes through the first third of life at least. This aspect in the Aussie chart shows its effects across Australian society, but it is now being outed quite markedly in government. We might add, too, that Mars is in the Australian 5th<\/sup> house \u2013 love affairs, schools, children and child care \u2013 and it is at the midpoint, Mars=Ven\/Ura: \u201cA great measure of excitability in love, a quick response to the stimuli of the senses, a suddenly active power of creation.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The Venus\/Uranus conjunction is of particular interest with regard to women and women\u2019s issues, emotional, physical and psychic. (It relates to men as well, but Venus is more often associated with women.) It also applies to all manner of aesthetic and artistic endeavours: \u201cA strong and hardly controllable tension in emotional life, a self-willed and obstinate disposition<\/strong>, strange urges and inclinations.\u201d The latter \u201cstrange urges and inclinations\u201d, written a century ago, also point to readjustments in gender roles and a general questioning around such roles. That said, the midpoint describes a general attitude in Australia, across gender. What we see with all the Mars and Venus connections are the strong emotions now extant, the emotional frustrations of Australian women regarding their roles in society, the slowness and resistance to change in Australian politics and reactions against the old boys\u2019 culture there. That conjunction is also great for avant garde<\/em> art and architecture like the Sydney Opera House and so forth, by the way, as well as the contributions of indigenous artists.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Venus\/Uranus conjunction also opens a door for new ways of seeing women\u2019s roles in Western society in general, because it is conjunct the Vertex<\/a><\/span> in the Australian chart. But when it comes to politics, perhaps one of the single biggest indicators for challenges to women there comes from the opposition to the Venus\/Uranus conjunction by Pluto, sitting on the Antivertex, with Pluto also being squared by Mars. Thus, we have a t-square in the chart, heavily involving gender issues, with the base being Pluto opposite Venus\/Uranus, with Mars at the apex. There is one final consideration before we go into the current directions and transits. Mars\/Pluto squares can often be cruel in their action, definitely hot-headed, and heedless of opposition. It is a war-like aspect.<\/span><\/p>\n

The base opposition of the t-square lies across the 2nd<\/sup>\/8th<\/sup> house axis, as we see also in the United States, which is the prime financial axis in the chart, pointing to the Australian oligarchy in this case, as well as being associated with self-esteem (2nd<\/sup> house) and sexuality (8th<\/sup> house). At its highest, the combination of Venus, Mars, Uranus and Pluto can represent the height of spiritual ecstasy in sexual relations, which would be great for practices like Mahamudra. But before such a high state of bliss, there would be quite a bumpy path to get there, because it would require letting go of one\u2019s ego. That\u2019s a long way \u2013 a very long way \u2013 from political realities.<\/span><\/p>\n

Instead, what we see with the preceding paragraph are power plays in gender relations, especially against women, with many men not wanting to share the stage, much less power, with women and with a lot of projected anger (Pluto rules psychological projection) at women, with a resultant backlash by them. The combination of factors just described is a prime setup for misogyny. And there is money involved, too, heaps of it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Women promote social programs in politics, like paid maternity leave, equal pay, equal opportunity, safe workplaces, etc. \u2013 it\u2019s called a fair go \u2013 whereas men will tend to side with business, as it stands with the Australian chart. Social programs and business are both needed, but the business leaders simply want no part of social programs, because it cuts into their bottom line. In looking at the Australian chart, then, there is a decided bias against women in positions of power, with a continual and pervasive effort to undermine women in politics. That simply has to change, and it is one of the biggest challenges to Australian society on the whole. That is not overstating the matter, because women make up roughly half of the Australian population and they are the primary caregivers in the early years of child-rearing, in most households.<\/span><\/p>\n

There is no finer example of the type of misogyny in Australian politics than in the (mis)treatment of Julia Gillard during her time as Australia\u2019s first woman PM, whether you liked her as PM or not. Tony Abbott, leader of the Opposition at the time, was excoriating toward her every day she was PM, standing outside of Parliament House on occasion beside signs calling Gillard a \u2018witch\u2019 and a \u2018bitch\u2019. And then, one day in session, she had had a gut-full of it and Abbott got read the riot act by her for his misogyny and hypocrisy. This came after he had introduced a motion of no confidence against the Speaker of the House, one Peter Slipper, for sexist remarks made in text messages to an aide. It was called one of the most memorable speeches in Aussie politics and \u201cthe most unforgettable moment<\/a><\/span> in Australian TV history.\u201d That, it was. I was living in Australia at the time. Her entire speech bears a full listen:<\/span><\/p>\n