Australia's leadership spill this morning, which has seen the Julia Gillard become Australia's first female Prime Minister, has seen a range of coverage which at times has shown the media's approach to women in the top jobs as out-dated and bordering on juvenile.

In a cringe-worthy moment, Nine's Karl Stefanovic asked Julia Gillard's elderly parents if they had any fears for their daughter.  What?  She's not about to head off around the world, unassisted in a yacht.  She's not missing.  Karl, she's Australia's new Prime Minister.  I doubt any journalist ever asked Kevin Rudd's parents if they had fear for him when he took up the top job.  Some other bloke went on to say she was very ambitious - not a word often heard around men of a similar caliber - maybe its expected from men in the top jobs across business and politics.

The team on Sky News Australia similarly have made some interesting comments about how the 'ladies' of Australian politics have all crashed and burned.  And on the media's head be it - as they continue to talk about clothes, hair and relationships when they dissect a woman's suitability to sit at the top.

Australian male journalists need to take a left from the book of their counterparts in the US, Europe and UK, where it is a matter of course that there is even handed and respectful reporting of women such as the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, US Secretaries of State, Madeline Albright, Condoleezza Rice and Hilary Clinton, Margaret Thatcher and even the Queen.  Our Australian approach will be much noticed as our newest Stateswoman takes the international stage.  So, gentlemen, watch your language.  There's a Prime Minister in the house.