I don’t think having a female PM means we’ve made it, but it means that one woman HAS. A woman in power won’t mean things are automatically done differently, and I am NOT a fan of tokenism but as someone who has been held back by men I am very happy to see Julia Gillard as Prime Minister.
Things won’t change. Not right away. People will be commenting about Gillard’s appearance before they comment on her policies but I hope this means that we get to shoot that kind of sexist derailment down.
What you can do? Consider how you’d respond to a male politician, whose gender and appearance is made invisible by the fact that it is normal in parliament. Consider that, and shift your focus to what Gillard actually says and does as a Prime Minister.