Via Jeremy S., article here. Excerpt:
'When we speak of gender we are highlighting our psychological and social conceptions of what it means to be a man or women. "Gender Schemas" refers to our intuitive hypotheses about the behaviour, traits, and preferences of men and women and boys and girls. Correspondingly, the term "gender roles" refers to expectations, to our ideas about how men and women are expected to behave.
All the signs have been there during this campaign. Physiognomy is well and truly at play, and more. We have covered her ear lobes, her marital status, her hair, her clothes, her choice not to have children and so on.
...
Gillard's gender should be her greatest strength, not a political weakness. But tackling gender schemas requires more insight and more thought than dropping shiny policy baubles. She needs the electorate to see her seated at the head of the table and to be comfortable with that image. Holding babies and kicking footballs with kids falls a long way short of what's needed to gain true popular acceptance.'
