Harriet Harman calls for 50% quota for female shadow cabinet members

Kohoutek

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/politics/10225683.stm

Acting Labour leader Harriet Harman says the party rules should change so half the shadow cabinet are women.

Ms Harman told the Unite conference in Manchester it was time for Labour women "to step out of the shadows".

"Labour is the only party in Parliament which speaks up for women in this country," Ms Harman said.

Leader hopeful Ed Miliband said shadow cabinet rule changes were up to Labour MPs but he was "very sympathetic" to the idea and would "be supporting it".

So, is discrimination the right way to achieve an 'equal' society?

Presumably she will also be calling for the shadow cabinet to comprised of people that represent the exact proportions of the numbers of the members of every religion, ethnic group, sexual orientation, etc in the UK - practice what you preach Harriet...

vivatifosi

I'd rather have a cabinet made up 100% of the right people for the job, whatever their gender, race, age, sexual orientation, etc.

kabayiri

Some Tory mps get around the gender imbalance by being Mr Right Honourable during the week and "Lacy Linda" at the weekends.
(allegedly)

You see Harriet? There's more than one way to skin a cat.

hugheskevi

Labour has 258 seats, of which 177 are held by men and 81 by women.

There are 22 Cabinet posts, so that would mean 11 would have to be held by women.

Assuming the male and female Labour MPs are equally competent, then based on the gender composition of their party you would expect the Shadow Cabinet to consist of 15 men and 7 women if the best person for the job was selected.

So what Ms Harman is saying is that the party should prefer a female in preference to the best person for the job in 4 (18%) of the Shadow Cabinet positions.

Labour should devote more of their time to focusing on equality of opportunity and far less on equality of outcome.

Degenerate

Demanding quotas is tantamount to admitting women are inferior and cannot compete on equal terms.

Gorgeous_George

Harriet Harman does little for women's self-respect.

GG

tessie_bear

i think harriet is correct....shame it cant be 100% women

lostinrates

vivatifosi wrote: »

I'd rather have a cabinet made up 100% of the right people for the job, whatever their gender, race, age, sexual orientation, etc.

This is how I feel.

I most adamantly do not feel more represented by someone because they have the same ''equipment'' as me. In fact as a SAHW who has to consider the inflexibility of a artner's career, it could be argued that someone who had not made the same choices in their household is les understanding of it than a carer woman. I also don't need my illheath represented. In my representative I look for a capable person capable of intelligent reasoning and the ability to empathise with people from a variety of backgrounds facing a variety of challenges. Once they find someone well able of all that then I'll see if I need to worry about what sex/preference/ etc etc they have and see if it bothers me.

FATBALLZ

ahahaha this muppet is destroying the chances of decent female MPs being taken seriously, she has set them back 50 years.

tessie_bear

FATBALLZ wrote: »

ahahaha this muppet is destroying the chances of decent female MPs being taken seriously, she has set them back 50 years.

no she has not she has spoken up for women...good on her

FATBALLZ

tessie_bear wrote: »

no she has not she has spoken up for women...good on her

She has spoken up with complete over the top feminist drivel. In many ways her opinions are comparable to those you get from the BNP. By trying to make out she represents women up and down the country she reduces the ability of the women to be taken seriously.