More men need to call out sexism they see because people might question the motives of female victims who speak up, Australia's only female prime minister believes.
Julia Gillard says, with the benefit of hindsight, she wishes she had "named and shamed" early on the sexist behaviour and gendered commentary she copped.
She didn't do so, thinking it would "wash itself out of the system" when instead it became worse.
"But that's a lesson learned only through having lived through it," she tells Labor MP Andrew Leigh in a podcast released on Friday.
"What it now means, I think, is absolutely we shouldn't wait.
"Co-workers, people beyond the political life should immediately shine a spotlight on any unequal treatment of women in political life and we should all be campaigning to make the online environment a safer space for women."
Ms Gillard also says the context of the debate about sexism and treatment of women in the workplace and in politics is quite different now than when she became leader in 2010.
Nevertheless, she believes it's important for men to be allies.
"Whilst women can call it out ... often the most powerful calling out is what happens by others," she says.
"Unfortunately, people will second guess when individual women call out sexism."
That shouldn't dissuade women from speaking up about unfair treatment, but it did mean there was power in observers saying something too.
"So my advice to the woman would be if she can she should call it out; if she can't and she knows she's going to be in those environments a lot, try and reach out to the best of the male colleagues and encourage them to do it."
Ms Gillard says the process of writing a book about her time in politics proved a cathartic way to work out some of the residual anger and bitterness about the treatment she received.
"I've never been someone who's thrown crockery or screamed out loud or decided that the best way of treating your staff is to yell at them because they'll work harder," she says.
But she makes the distinction between "righteous anger" that can power one's work and an obsession about moments when a person feels they were unfairly treated.
"Any time you spend kind of mentally grinding an axe about someone or something is wasted time."
