There is a first for everything - or so the saying goes - and it's safe to say there has been many firsts for women over the past few decades. Particularly women in politics.
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In 1990, Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto became the first elected head of government to give birth while in office. She also campaigned while pregnant. In 2018, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Arden then became only the second head of government to give birth while in power. But she was the first elected leader to then take maternity leave.
In May 2017, Australian senator Larissa Waters became the first politician to breastfeed in federal parliament. It came a year after the lower house joined the senate in allowing breastfeeding, yet no MPs in either house had done so - until Ms Waters did.
But women getting pregnant, inevitably giving birth and then raising their children is not new. If it was, our population would be in all sorts of trouble. Yet the rhetoric around a woman's ability to lead a state or country while pregnant or after giving birth, continues to raise its unnecessary head.
On Friday, it was Tasmanian Labor leader Rebecca White's turn. Ms White was quick to brush aside the suggestion her pregnancy would "complicate" Labor's campaigning ahead of an early state election. The comment was made on Twitter by ABC political analyst Antony Green.
Her response: "I'm not sure why? Plenty of pregnant woman continue to work. I'm no different and I can assure everyone that as far as I'm concerned it's game on."
Earlier, Premier Peter Gutwein had also been questioned on the topic. In the context of a broader national discussion around the rights of women and treating women with respect, he was asked how "forcing a heavily pregnant woman to go through the wringer of a long election campaign - how is that respecting the rights of women?" To his credit, Mr Gutwein said the question was one that should be put to Ms White.
And it didn't take long for other prominent women to come to her defence, including federal Labor MP Tanya Plibersek who pointed out that she was pregnant during both the 2004 and 2010 campaigns. Meanwhile, independent Murchison MLC Ruth Forrest labelled the commentary as inappropriate, irrelevant and a distraction from the real issues.
But in 2021, is this still something women need to be defending?
When Ms White laid out Labor's election plan on Friday, not one part of it mentioned how she would be managing her pregnancy. Frankly, any suggestion that it should serves as nothing but a distraction.
As voters, we should be interested in her policies, not her pregnancy.
