Gillard on Abbott: 'Oh God, give me strength'

Former prime minister Julia Gillard says gender issues are more easily glossed over than racism. Photo: Alex Ellinghausen

Former prime minister Julia Gillard says Australians would have been more outraged at her treatment as a woman if she were black.

In a lengthy interview conducted while Ms Gillard was still Labor leader and published in the latest The Monthly, Ms Gillard said politics had become more combative, particularly in recent years under minority government in Australia.

''Is the stuff against Barack Obama because he's African American? ... Or would they have played as hard as that against any successful Democrat? Well, I suspect it's a bit of both,'' she said.

''I think some of the stuff about me, because it is about gender, gets glossed over more easily.''

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In March 2011, Opposition Leader Tony Abbott stood at a rally against the carbon tax beside signs that read, ''Juliar: Bob Browns [sic] Bitch'' and ''Ditch the Witch''.

''If I was the first indigenous prime minister, and (Tony) Abbott had gone out and stood next to a sign that said, 'Ditch the black bastard', I reckon that would be the end of a political career,'' Ms Gillard said.

''And it's not less because it's gender. But it's been treated as less.''

She also revealed that she ''didn't have any sense'' of the force of her famous misogyny speech.

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Gillard on Abbott: 'Oh God, give me strength'