There's a massive leadership spill happening in Australia right now. Current Prime Minister Kevid Rudd's leadership has just been challenged before he has completed one full term as PM (historical in itself), only months from an election. Given recent dissent within the Labor Party his deputy Julia Gillard is poised to be voted the new leader, making her Australia's first Prime Minister. Of course, it would be much better for her to win this year's election and be Australia's first elected female Prime Minister rather than by default. 

Personally, I'm very excited and proud. My suspicion is that Ms Gillard is an INTJ. I know MBTI should not define your life, however being a female INTJ is so challenging and isolating at times, so it feels wonderful to finally have a high profile, local role model to look up to.

Happy days

Why has it taken so long for women to reach the top in politics?

Because men fear the almighty uterus!!!!

The same reason it's taken so long for women to reach any point of power in the "boy's clubs" - it was no girls allowed for so long that getting out of that way of thinking was difficult, even when it was "ok" for women to rise to those positions.

I don't have any problems with a woman ruling a country, if it is done right.

But i'd like you to consider this: Generally speaking, women want a mate to which they can look up to, and a lot of men like a woman which isn't that dominant. Now, who does a woman with a leadership position look up to? Doesn't that kind of limit her potential partners?

....I just....don't know....the idiocy.... >< The 1950s are long over.

Well, if you put it that way - i must acknowledge that you win.

Yes, independence is attractive for both genders.
So what you mean is that in essence, both should look up to each other in certain ways?

 I meant that women like men who have skills (and therefore look up to them, being a leader is proof that you have skills), and men are more attracted to looks. I must say, however, once a girl impressed me in a way that it changed my complete view of her - of course she also was good looking, but that never really intrigued me fully. Oh, and she played piano in a music piece for piano and orchestra flawlessly. It was a really hard and long piece and she played it out of memory. It was just - wow. Afterwards i was like "Errrmm... hey...". LOL i am so crazy. LOL.

EDIT: Hey, you edited while i was posting!

Well....I was thoughtful at first....but then I got irritated.

Why has it taken so long for women to reach the top in politics?

For most of human history the guy with the biggest army and biggest stick ran the tribe. There was no such thing as equality, much less gender equality until a few hundred years ago. (with few exceptions) Every now and then there were great queens though

my favorite:

Boudica
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Boudicca" redirects here. For the cruise ship, see MV Boudicca.


Boadicea Haranguing the Britons by John Opie
Boudica (pronounced /ˈbuːdɨkə/; also spelled Boudicca), formerly known as Boadicea /boʊdɨˈsiːə/ and known in Welsh as "Buddug" [ˈbɨ̞ðɨ̞ɡ][1] (d. AD 60 or 61) was a queen of a Celtic tribe who led an uprising of the tribes against the occupying forces of the Roman Empire.
Boudica's husband, Prasutagus, ruler of the Iceni who had ruled as a nominally independent ally of Rome, left his kingdom jointly to his daughters and the Roman Emperor in his will. However, when he died his will was ignored. The kingdom was annexed as if conquered, Boudica was flogged and her daughters raped, and Roman financiers called in their loans.
In AD 60 or 61, while the Roman governor, Gaius Suetonius Paulinus, was leading a campaign on the island of Anglesey in north Wales, Boudica led the Iceni people, along with the Trinovantes and others, in revolt. They destroyed Camulodunum (Colchester), formerly the capital of the Trinovantes, but now a colonia (a settlement for discharged Roman soldiers) and the site of a temple to the former emperor Claudius, which was built and maintained at local expense. They also routed a Roman legion, the IX Hispana, sent to relieve the settlement.
On hearing the news of the revolt, Suetonius hurried to Londinium (London), the twenty-year-old commercial settlement that was the rebels' next target. Concluding he did not have the numbers to defend it, Suetonius evacuated and abandoned it. It was burnt to the ground, as was Verulamium (St Albans). An estimated 70,000–80,000 people were killed in the three cities (though the figures are suspect).[2] Suetonius, meanwhile, regrouped his forces in the West Midlands, and despite being heavily outnumbered, defeated the Britons in the Battle of Watling Street. The crisis caused the emperor Nero to consider withdrawing all Roman forces from the island, but Suetonius' eventual victory over Boudica secured Roman control of the province. Boudicca then killed herself so she would not be captured, or fell ill and died, Tacitus and Dio differ.
The history of these events, as recorded by Tacitus[3] and Cassius Dio,[4] was rediscovered during the Renaissance and led to a resurgence of Boudica's legendary fame during the Victorian era, when Queen Victoria was portrayed as her "namesake". Boudica has since remained an important cultural symbol in the United Kingdom. The absence of native British literature during the early part of the first millennium means that Britain owes its knowledge of Boudica's rebellion to the writings of the Romans.

And for those of you who were wondering what my "thoughtful" reply was....before I edited it... I had a layout of gender stereotypes based on thinker and feeler preferences....the cultural acceptance of the two mixed between gender, and how strong T women have always existed - and more to the point, that independence is attractive regardless of sex.

Well, the result's in. Australia has it's first female Prime Minster!

This came from out of the blue. The possibility of a leadership challenge only hit the press a day or so ago.

I think most people now realise it comes down to the question - who's the best person for the job? I guess 50 years ago, the 'norm' was for women to stay at home and raise the kids, and to not get a college education. And now that most women are educated, they're just as able to debate etc. Hopefully this advances us beyond the societies run by the guy with the biggest army or the biggest stick.

Personally I think Julia Gillard has what it takes to be PM.

But what does it matter if a PM is male or female when they aren't on top of the issues and don't the right policies? The question of gender becomes irrelevant, and the question for the electorate in the up coming election should hopefully be on issues and policies. And if we are saying we shouldn't be biased on gender when comes to selecting a PM, then shouldn't we then not be biased when it comes to voting (in the upcoming election)? But the unfortunate truth is that a lot of people will be swayed to vote for her because of gender (and some swayed against).

Changing the leader doesn't change the fact that the party made mistakes like dumping the Emissions Trading Scheme, bungling the Insulation Scheme (which has been linked to 4 deaths and 174 house fires) and the Mining Tax.

The folks on the INTJ forum seem to have marked down the Australian Prime Minsiter as an INTJ - http://intjforum.com/showthread.php?t=37425

And this site has her down as INTJ – http://www.celebritytypes.com/intj.php  (mind you, this site for all we know could have been whipped together by a 14 yo kid )

It's on the internet, so it must be true.  Just thought some of you guys might find this interesting.