Ms Gillard - named on Tuesday as Australia's most influential female voice in a poll by Fairfax Media's Daily Life website - recounted how she sat down after delivering the scorching speech, directed at Opposition Leader Tony Abbott, and prepared to get on with other work while at the dispatch box in the House of Representatives. ''I thought I had given a hard-hitting speech but I didn't have any inkling of the effect of it,'' Ms Gillard said.

''I said to Wayne, 'Oh, we're going to have to sit here now and listen to all these bloody speeches in reply. I should get my chief of staff to bring some correspondence so at least I can be getting on with something.'

''And Wayne, with a slightly odd look on his face - and he is not someone known for the most demonstrative facial expressions - said, 'Yeah, you can't really give the I Accuse speech and settle back and do your correspondence'.''

Speaking to Daily Life at the end of the bruising parliamentary year, Ms Gillard revealed that while she can ''compartmentalise'' the criticism directed at her, her partner, Tim Mathieson, feels it deeply.

''Sometimes we have a discussion about whether he's watching it too closely, in the sense that he's more at risk that it emotionally affects him than it emotionally affects me,'' Ms Gillard said.

She doesn't allow the ''public hurly-burly'' to affect her sense of self. ''I have always had a very strong sense of myself and not had that easily pushed and pulled by the views of others,'' she said.

In a shot at Mr Abbott and what she called his ''old-fashioned and close-minded attitudes'', she said ''criticism most hurts when it comes from people you respect''.

Women around Australia send Ms Gillard flowers, jewellery, notes and scarves to show their support for her, she said, but rejected suggestions that while the speech boosted her popularity with women, it cruelled her support among men. ''My sense is that people get a little too hard and fast about the lines here. I've had a lot of men come up to me and say, 'Congratulations'.''

Ms Gillard also hinted at the political future of her friend and fellow female politician, Hillary Clinton, whom she named as one of the women she most looked up to.

''She's a fascinating person and a great discussion,'' Ms Gillard said. ''I admire Hillary Clinton. What a life, with potentially more to come.''