A terrible idea February 12, 2007
Posted by politicsranter in Feminism, Politics.trackback
I’ll stop neglecting this site soon, I promise. Well, maybe. I think one of my blogs is going to have to go. Between work, trying to freelance, Torontoist and two personal blogs, it’s a bit much. Anyway, I just wanted to pop in and give my two cents on the Liberal plan for getting more women into office. (The plan is not letting men run to be the Liberal candidate in some ridings.)
It’s terrible. I can’t even begin to say how offensive it is.
This is not progressiveness. This is not fixing the problem. It’s dealing with the end result of a problem, and that problem is barriers for women in politics. Rather than ban men from running in some ridings, they should be working on why women don’t run in the first place. Figure that out, and then try and fix it. This is not saying “Women are great and we want more of them around.” This is saying, “Women aren’t good enough to win on their own merits if they’re running against men.”
I’m not sure if I disagree with the idea 100% like you do, but I do figure it won’t be as sincere an attempt as it sounds, perhaps putting more women in ridings where they have no chance to win anyway?
Another plus for PR systems that involve party lists: if you alternate man/woman/man/woman, in order, you’re golden in terms of gender parity.