Australia's first female premier Julia Gillard has described her 'muderious rage' at her sexist treatment but said she would it all again in her first public appearance since being dumped. Gillard received a standing ovation from a sellout 2,600- person crowd as stepped onto the stage of Sydney Opera House for a candid discussion of her time as leader with renowned Australian feminist Anne Summers on Monday night. It was first civic foray since being toppled in Labor party-room coup by Kevin Rudd on the eve of last month's national elections, and her first public remarks about the sexism that marked her time in office and her infamous mysogyny speech. Gillard said she has faced a "perfect storm" as leader in which the "wild card element of gender, being the first female prime minister" had been a defining factor. She admitted being aware of the vicious, sometimes sexual and violent commentary both within the mainstream press and on social media' sites taking aim at her gender but she said she " choose not to focus on them." " I would have said more like muderious rage" Gillard said when asked to describe how she had felt. " So for my personal liberty it is probably a good thing that I did not focus on them" Gillard said her ascension to the top job had unleashed " a wellspring of enthusiasm from women and from many men about gender equality' but there also this underside of sexism, really violent ugly sexism thsat came forward, a 'surprising' and 'depressing' response. When she became prime minister Gillard said she decided not to "put in the forground being a woman" but "as the days in office went on it seemed to me increasingly i was getting burden of that sort of misogynist underside" leading to her blistering sexism speech in parliament last year which went viral worlwide. When she reflected on the "sexist abuse that happened when I was prime minister" Gillard said she worried "may be the whole thing was sending wrong message to the women" about the hostility of politics.
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