This project aims to leverage the widespread reach of Instagram to ignite conversations and raise awareness about the prevalent issue of sexism and gender-based discrimination in Australian Politics.
By utilising engaging visual techniques and building a compelling narrative, this project seeks to shed light on the discriminatory attitudes women in political spheres face on a daily basis. In addition, this campaign seeks to foster empathy and tolerance among male viewers, encouraging reflection on their possible contributions to this reality. To young female viewers, this designer hopes that Brooke will inspire them, showing them that women are capable of just as much as men are, and potentially inspiring them to give a career in politics a second thought. This project tells the story of one woman's journey up through the ranks of the Australian Government's Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, as documented on her instagram page. Viewers gain insight into the challenges, triumphs and biases that Brooke Fields must face in pursuit of change.
Research
In the world of Australian politics, the shadows of deep-rooted sexism loom large. A deeply entrenched culture of sexism and gender-based discrimination has effectively kept our parliament primarily male occupied since its establishment in 1901.
However, there has been progress made. Between 2002 and 2023, the number of female parliamentarians has improved from 25.3% to 39.8%. Whilst this is a promising incline, it is clear that Australia still lags behind many developed nations. The Inter Parliamentary Union (IPU) publishes an annual ranking of countries based on the representation of women in the lower houses of national parliaments. In 1999, Australia was ranked 15th out of 187. As of 2022, Australia has fallen to 57th (IPU, 2022).
A staggering 63% of female politicians have reportedly encountered sexual harassment within the workplace (Australian Human Rights Commission, 2021). This type of hostile environment that women must endure in order to pursue a career in politics is a contributing factor to the under-representation of women in parliament. In fact, a survey found that just 10% of you Australian women believe that the culture in the nation's parliament is safe for women (PLAN Int., 2021). Furthermore, women remain significantly under-represented in leading roles across many industries, comprising only 22.3% of CEOs, 35.1% of management positions and 18% of board chairs. The mainstream Australian media further perpetuates this gender bias, as 80% of news channel interviews each day are given to men (Victoria Women's Trust, 2021)
"This makes it easier to ridicule women when they are the focus of a political story – they are vulnerable as anomalies. It is uncomplicated to attack female politicians on the grounds of gender" (Looby, 2021)
Former Prime Minister Julia Gillard, the first and only female Prime Minister of Australia, bore the brunt of gender-based attacks throughout her tenure. Notable instances are listed below:
The Choice Not To Have Children
- Former Labor Leader Mark Latham, on the topic of Ms Gillard, states: "Having children is the great loving experience of any lifetime. And by definition you haven't got as much love in your life if you make that particular choice. She's on the public record saying she made a deliberate choice not to have children to further her parliamentary career." He then went on to call Ms Gillard 'wooden' for her choice, claiming she lacked empathy. (The Guardian, 2013)
Kentucky Fried Quail
On the menu of a Liberal Party Fundraiser in 2013, a Moroccan Quail dish was described as “Julia Gillard Kentucky fried quail – small breasts, huge thighs and a big red box Moroccan carrot salad and sumac yoghurt.”
The Facebook Page
- July 2011 saw the creation of a Facebook page titled "Julia Gillard - Worst PM In Australian History". This page was home to appalling hate speech and sexual vilification, including photoshopped images of the PM in compromising and humiliating situations. This page had more than 19,000 likes before its shut down.
In light of these harrowing facts and figures, it becomes crucial to confront and challenge Australia's pervasive culture of sexism in our politics. Through targeted advocacy and awareness campaigns, this designer hopes to contribute to the work already being done to dismantle gender-based barriers and create a more equitable and inclusive parliament.
WE CAN LEAD
Plan International Australia is a charity that fights for young women's equality nationwide. After a spate of reports of sexual misconduct, alleged rape, and women being victim-blamed, Plan International published survey data from 2,000 young Australian Women about their future aspirations. After finding that 73% of participants did not believe that women were treated equally to men in politics, Plan International published a list of recommendations for the Australian Government to follow in order to make a career in politics possible for a wider range of people.
INSPIRATION
Visual Strategies and Design Elements
This story is illustrated with Prismacolor Premier pencils and ink pens on watercolour paper, and then digitally cleaned up and enhanced in Adobe Photoshop.
Standout Visual Identity
In a visual landscape rich with sleek and polished imagery, traditional illustration stands out for its unique aesthetic and inherent humanism. Coloured pencil and paper also possess a unique texture and depth that still prove difficult to replicate with machine. Traditional mediums are fraught with imperfections and human error, their organic lines and irregularities make for a breath of fresh air in an environment quickly saturating itself with clean, uniform AI images.
Visual Contrast
The stark contrast between Brooke's brightly coloured character design and her coworker's muted, grey appearance aids in immediately establishing Brooke as the central character to this story. The colour choice also establishes Brooke's personality as assertive and bold, not conforming to social norms. There is a visible lack of women in all of the political spaces depicted in the narrative, made evident to the viewer through the divide in colour and saturation between the genders.
Storytelling
The campaign follows a linear narrative structure, where the events are presented in the order of which they occur. The singular plot line allows for a more complex and nuanced examination of this social issue, whilst also giving the audience ample time to get to know Brooke as a person, and form an emotional attachment to her and her struggles. Emotional investment in this story is key to the success of the 'Speak Up Brooke' storytelling campaign.
SIMILARITY
In almost every single image, Brooke appears in the same outfit. In doing so, Brooke's outfit becomes almost iconic to an audience. Both easily recognisable and eye-catching, her contrasting teal and red power suit is indicative of strong character design. The colours also create a cohesive look to the 9 post grid, serving to tie all the images together and avoid appearing disjointed and unconnected.
STORYBOARD
Process
The process to a polished image starts with a rough sketch on paper in a light coloured pencil. Once satisfied with the sketch, I traced over the drawing in HB pencil to produce smoother, more accurate lines. Then I go in with my Prismacolor Premier coloured pencils, starting with the lightest base colours and layering on darker colours to build up shadow and depth. After colour, I went in with an ink fine liner to define some necessary lines and points in the drawing. The image is then scanned into Adobe Photoshop, where I used tools such as the cloning tool, smudge tool and burn tool to clean up any messy lines or mistakes, and darken shadows. I then remove the any white paper background visible with the quick select tool, and use adobe preset watercolour brushes to create a subtle gradient background in an accent colour. The image is then resized to fit Instagram's formatting, and exported as a high quality JPEG, ready for uploading.
CHARACTER DESIGN
Brooke's Instagram page also provides a link to her Linktree, where viewers are directed to several government resources regarding pursuing a career in politics, articles addressing culturally engrained sexism, and a link to this page.
Backgrounds
All digital brushes used were royalty-free downloads from Adobe's asset download centre, or came as a default Adobe Photoshop brush.
Reflection
One aspect of this campaign I feel worked particularly well was the use of a traditional medium. The choice to use coloured pencils and ink allowed for a sense of emotional authenticity, and made the story feel more ‘human’. The opaque, vibrant colours and iconic texture of pencils brought Brooke’s story to life in a visually compelling way, catching and holding viewers’ attention with every image. Additionally, I feel as though presenting this story to the viewers through the lens of Brooke’s personal Instagram page provided a more immersive viewing experience than if it had simply been posted by a ‘narrator’. Other elements that I feel worked in my favour for this assignment was the addition of a linktree in Brooke’s Instagram bio, again feeding into audience perception of Brooke as a real person. The inclusion of Brooke’s Mum as a character and motivator made Brooke appear 3-dimensional, as audiences got an insight into her values, motivations and beliefs based on how she talked about her Mum.
This campaign relies almost entirely on illustration to tell its story. If I were to re-polish it, I would make use of typographic elements more often in the images to push the story along and help users read the Instagram page as a comic or story. If this was not as much a time sensitive project, I would have preferred to traditionally illustrate all the backgrounds to the same extent, instead of having to leave some blanker than others. I feel this may have aided in creating a cohesive look to the 9-post grid. Furthermore, I would have liked to experiment with adding more multi-modal elements to the Instagram page, such as attaching music, or even subtly animating facial expressions or characters slightly moving, enhancing the illusion that Brooke is a real person, and her struggles are just as tangible.
Overall, I am pleased with the story I have told and how I chose to tell it. Brooke, the compelling, likeable protagonist filled with depth, was the perfect medium to inform, educate and hopefully entertain an audience. The cultural landscape of Australian politics is long due for an extensive re-examination, and I believe that by circulating stories like Brooke’s, or any of the other 63% of female politicians who have experienced sexism or sexual harassment at work, we will be able to ignite change in our country.
References
- Australian Government. (2023). National Strategy to Achieve Gender Equality - Discussion Paper. Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. https://www.pmc.gov.au/sites/default/files/resource/download/national-strategy-gender-equality-discussion-paper_0.pdf
- Behance. (n.d.). https://www.behance.net/gallery/30236773/sexism-in-workplace
- Behance. (n.d.-b). https://www.behance.net/gallery/104537175/Sketches-collection
- Behance. (n.d.-c). https://www.behance.net/gallery/95739791/Sketching-with-coloured-pencils
- Clune, B. (2017, May 7). Playing the “gender card”? As if Julia Gillard has a choice. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/jun/12/menu-quail-julia-gillard-liberal
- Imam, R. (2021, October 6). The shape and sound of sexism in Australian politics - Victorian Women's Trust. Victorian Women’s Trust. https://www.vwt.org.au/the-shape-and-sound-of-sexism-in-australian-politics/
- IPU comparative data on Structure of parliament. (2023). Parline: The IPU’s Open Data Platform. https://data.ipu.org/women-ranking?month=3&year=2023
- Plan International Australia. (2021). Young people in Australia share their views on sexism and misogyny in politics in 2021 – and what needs to change. In WE Can Lead (pp. 2–4). https://www.plan.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/PIA0149_YAS_MediaReport_WeCanLead_FINAL.pdf
- Saner, E. (2017, December 1). Top 10 sexist moments in politics: Julia Gillard, Hillary Clinton and more. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/jun/14/top-10-sexist-moments-politics
- Set the Standard: Report on the Independent Review into Commonwealth Parliamentary Workplaces. (2021). [Report]. https://humanrights.gov.au/sites/default/files/document/publication/ahrc_set_the_standard_2021.pdf
- Williams, B. D. B. (2020, November 20). Inside the toxic sexist culture of Australia’s political bubble - Australian Institute of International Affairs. Australian Institute of International Affairs. https://www.internationalaffairs.org.au/australianoutlook/inside-the-toxic-sexist-culture-of-australias-political-bubble/
- Women in politics face constant sexist attacks, proving progress is only partial - Daily Bruin. (2018, November 14). Daily Bruin. https://dailybruin.com/2018/11/13/women-in-politics-face-constant-sexist-attacks-proving-progress-is-only-partial