I have to confess I was pleased as punch this morning to hear of the Labor Party spill.

Yes it's great news to FINALLY get a female Prime Minister, but right now, at this point in our history, it's even more important to have a Prime Minister that we can see some future in.

But the historic point of a female Prime Minister cannot be ignored, and Ms Gillard has to be admired for her willingness to step up into this role and take on the responsibility in the face of both the accolades and the slings and arrows. I thank her from the bottom of my heart for her commitment and I look to her policy platform with considerable interest. Obviously I'm worried about the ETS (having said that I'm not convinced about the Labor Model, but I'm prepared to be convinced). I'm worried about Renewable Rebates and the Renewable industry in general. I'm obviously very concerned about environmental issues. I'm also interested in what this government is intending to do about Mental Health Services, and in particular Disability Services - obviously given our personal experience of late.

But aside from everything else, I'm keen to support Ms Gillard and will be following her policy outcomes with some interest.

But it's also beholden on me to support her more actively. To do that I'm giving up ABC local and Melbourne radio. I've spent the whole day today in the car and I think I've heard every bigoted, idiotic, self-involved, garbage opinion that could possibly be uttered in the face of a "woman" Prime Minister. And this is equally from men and from women.

Now I'm prepared to admit it was late in the 1970's before my feminist awareness cut in. But once it had there were a few elements that stay with me. The most important of which is that whole idea of women's right to choose.

That's right sisters. Choice. We actually had the right to choose our own paths in life.

Hard to imagine, and very hard to remember in the face of the appalling claptrap I've been forced to listen to today.

The most obvious is the "how can a childless woman possibly represent all women". WHAT! For goodness sake. How does a childless man represent you? How does a working man with a stay at home wife who does the "kid" thing represent you?

The question really is how on earth is somebody's gynecological status of any relevance to their ability to empathise / take advice / observe....

The most appalling thing today was that most of the "childless" jabs came from other women. There were obviously the few sad, deluded arrogant "how can a woman possibly want another career when the raising of the next generation has to be the most rewarding thing they can ever do" male opinions (and there were plenty of them), but in the main it seemed to be other women who were more than prepared to fire the jabs based on Ms Gillard's marital and/or childfree status.

But back to the point of this little rant. When did the "choice" part of feminism disappear and the sisterhood become all about the belittling of others? When did it become perfectly okay to announce that child-free women are not "real women" as I heard today?

A childfree status can be for a lot reasons. It can be circumstantial. Timing of meeting possible partners, sexual preference, geographical isolation, poverty, or even medical. Imagine the feeling of being treated like a third-class "unreal woman" because you aren't actually able to HAVE children.

But there's also childfree by choice. There it is - that feminist idea that you could choose the life that suited you. Then again "choice" isn't automatically a "selfish" desire to have no responsibility. Many "choose" for significantly more complicated reasons - such as family genetics, mental health issues, competency, financial or often more simply - no desire whatsoever to have children.

Regardless of what reason a woman doesn't have children it doesn't make her any less of a "real woman". You expect that sort of 16th century crap from a sub-section of the population, but frankly, to have other women throw that garbage around at any woman - particularly a woman who has risen to the highest political position in the land, is gobsmacking.

So Talkback Radio and the ABC is something I'm going to give up as my vote of solidarity to Prime Minister Gillard. I wish her all power to her cause in the role she has agreed to undertake. And I don't give a tinker's about her marital status, the colour of her hair, her child-free status, the sort of car she drives, what is or isn't in her fruit bowl, and what colour her kitchen is. It's about policies, and leadership, the state of the country as a whole and what she's going to do to keep the focus on the things that really matter.