Blokey Culture Reigns in the New Australia

In the run-up to this month's Australian election, Tony Abbott was called everything in the feminist lexicon: a misogynist, a sexist, blokey, you name it. And that's just by former Prime Minister Julia Gillard, never mind the half of Australia's 23 million people wondering why their new leader seems to be stuck in the "Mad Men" era.

You would think Abbott, being a politician in this 24/7 news cycle world of ours, would immediately set out to buttress his gender bona fides. Instead, on Monday Abbott announced a new Cabinet that included precisely one woman. The prime minister Abbott replaced, Kevin Rudd, had six. Chris Bowen, the interim leader of Rudd's Labor party, was quick to point out that the government of Afghanistan has more women in its Cabinet than Abbott. Ouch!