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

Kohoutek

maginot wrote: »

I'm sorry, but why does someone have to be exactly the same as you to be representative? I can have different views with people of the same creed/race/religion etc and the same views as someone who is a different sex. This is what is important when you want an MP or cabinet minister to represent you, or is it just me???

You'd think the priority would be to introduce a representative voting system if our political class wanted people's views to represented equally...

misskool

There's talking about this on newsnight and everyone on the panel agrees that something should be done to allow for accurate representation of the populace in the cabinet.

I'd be very pleased with getting that change but that should be done from training them up. The women could and should start a network of support and form groups. It cannot be done via quotas as you'd get a group of women who think they would be able to get the position without actually being competent enough for the job.

tomstickland

Why isn't the distribution of intelligence properly represented in the cabinet?

Gorgeous_George

fc123 wrote: »

Deary deary me...this board is sinking.....a post on 'The Monthlies'.
Plenty of us sail through from month to month with no impact from the errrr 'monthlies'. I might get wired or a strop on and by total coinicidence it's at the same time but, generally, it's irrelevant.

I had to read that bit twice...



GG

1984ReturnsForReal_2

Harman has lost it then........

fc123

Gorgeous_George wrote: »

I had to read that bit twice...



GG

Ha de Ha GG :rotfl:

Degenerate

1984ReturnsForReal wrote: »

Harman has lost it then........

I don't think she ever had it to lose in the first place.

1984ReturnsForReal_2

Degenerate wrote: »

I don't think she ever had it to lose in the first place.

Good point...........

& agreed 100%

nobodyspecial

But surely Harperson should disqualify herself from any office/job on the basis she had a very privileged education at an exclusive fee-paying school, and therefore cannot possibly represent the ordinary person on the street? She really is the most obnoxious MP. I'm a woman and despise the fact she's the same sex as me (allegedly )

Shakethedisease

Hmmm..

Mabye the question should be, that despite women making up 50% (ish) of the population, why the government and those that make decsions for us,.. is still so bloody male domainated ?

The question shouldn't be 'why should a shadow cabinet inculde 50% women'.. but why the hell SHOULDN'T it ?

We are in no way, shape or form talking about a minority group after all. That arguement is irrelevant here.

I'm practically a poster child for people like her. I'm ethnic minority, female and working in a male-dominated industry. What I detest is the idea that I'm getting a post because I tick some boxes. I need to be able to get the job because I am the best person for it.

You will never be perceived to BE the best person for it. That's the problem. And that's why there are so few women in positions of power. Men appoint them.

Wake up.

http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate-uk/2010/03/07/battle-over-wages-the-male-female-wage-gap/

Despite there being an Equal Pay Act in place in the UK since 1970, women still earn on average 17 percent less per hour than men for doing the equivalent role in the workplace, according to figures from The Fawcett Society.
Let’s not get confused here. This is not about women working part-time when men are working full time. This is the average gap for men and women working full time.
If you want to talk part-time, no problem – the figures actually get worse. The average woman is being paid 36 per cent less – more than a third – than a man doing the equivalent part-time role. When you get into London, this rises to 45 per cent – almost half, according to The Fawcett Society.