Many of you have pointed to this report about backward, misogynist blokey Australia where sheilas know their place, written by one of the world's greatest minds John McTernan.

Mr McTernan is about to turn to his loyal sidekick and say, "my work here is done" and fly off to the next government-funded thinking in residence opportunity The Network roster shows as available.

Before he does, it's worth looking at the column he's just had published in UK's The Telegraph newspaper.   Irony is his strong suite.

McTernan says the narrative of Gillard's pathfinder career as the country's first female PM is the story of a woman who battered up against, knocked down many of but ultimately was defeated by the minefield of misogynistic structural impediments to female career success in Australia.

He doesn't talk of what else she did while she knocked the nonsense sexism out of the way.  He just describes the centrality of the battle with sexism.

If sexism and misogyny were the real battle in Australia like it is for women in Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan or Pakistan I'd agree that those fights should be front and centre.   But here in Australia we have so many EEO, human rights, status of women, ABC, Fairfax, left-handed-black-lesbian-puppet-theatre-workshop-collective lobby groups - as well as Anne Summers - that when remnant entrenched hothouses of agressively active sexism surface (like the Labor preselection process for the seat of Batman) then they're likely to be rounded on and helped to reform without too much prime ministerial intervention.

McTernan and Gillard created the sexism dramas because they had nothing else.   She had blown her credibility.   She lied too often and about too much.  She could no longer lead us.

So go to the last paragraph of McTernan's column.   The job of a wry-smiling cryptic crossword clue writer is often to embed a nod to the correct, considered output in an obscure corner of the clue.   The word "irony" at the start couldn't be much clearer!!!!!

The irony is that, though she could have done so, Gillard never sought to gain advancement in her career by playing on being a woman. She ended up reaping all the disadvantages and none of the benefits. And it was only late in the day of her career, in that extraordinary speech, that she spoke the truth about misogyny in words that men and women alike in Australia and beyond knew to be true. She may just, as she said in a valedictory speech that was typical of her calm reason, have made it easier for the next woman prime minister of Australia.