tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19208183.post6355955371896024942..comments2023-10-22T14:14:16.419+01:00Comments on J. Arthur MacNumpty: Getting women into ParliamentWillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10978812670312106107noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19208183.post-3238374240551622552010-03-21T20:30:24.421+00:002010-03-21T20:30:24.421+00:00Thanks for the responses up to now, everyone, I kn...Thanks for the responses up to now, everyone, I know that this topic tends to get people revved up. Which is part of the reason why I posted it!<br /><br />Having said that, however, I'm going to chalk this one up as one of my less successful posts in that I seem to have put across the exact opposite of the point that I was hoping to make, which was that you can't graft contemporary concepts like AWS, positive discrimination and the parity/equality drive onto an electoral system that predates political parties. That if you want to go down the road of having quotas, and having an absolute mathematical benchmark for gender-based representation, that has to be part of a wider reform package involving a system that can absorb something like this into its mechanics. What I was trying to demonstrate is that it's easier to wire something into an AMS or STV system than it is into FPTP.<br /><br />Whether we actually want to do that is another matter, but I'm tired of opponents of AWS (myself included) responding to the pro camp by saying either 'this isn't a problem' (it is - we're supposed to be in a representative democracy so it would help if the central participants actually reflected the make-up of the country), 'this is a problem, but nothing can/should be done about it' (not good enough), or worse still, 'something should be done, but it shouldn't be this and I don't know what is should be'. Again, that's not good enough.<br /><br />John, thanks for the comment and welcome to the site - I'll defend my singing to the hilt, though I can tell you that my writing is definitely better than my dancing!Willhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10978812670312106107noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19208183.post-12754598006285279142010-03-20T23:50:47.992+00:002010-03-20T23:50:47.992+00:00Discrimination in any form is abhorrent; positive ...Discrimination in any form is abhorrent; positive discrimination almost more so as it lowers the overall standard.<br />Taking your male/female scenario as an example, (while I <b>do</b> hear what you say about the old boys clubs) let us say that we divide the potential candidates into two groups according to gender. Irrespective of which is which, the potential candidates of one gender (in order of perceived strength) we will call 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 while the potential candidates of the other gender, again in order, we will call A, B, C, D, E and F.<br />Now let us say that the overall perceived order of strength is A, B, C, 1, 2, D, 3, etc.<br />The selection panel is tasked with choosing four candidates.<br />In an open and fair contest they would choose A, B, C and 1 (the four strongest on merit), but if the rules are corrupted by positive discrimination and they are told that they must select the best two from each gender then they are forced to choose A, B, 1 and 2. This means that the third best potential candidate (C) is sacrificed in favour of the fifth best(2).<br />The positive discrimination has done no favours to society as a whole as the selection process has watered down the quality of the candidates.<br />There are more than enough cases where we are leaning toward the <i>lowest common denominator</i> as it is, and positive discrimination only makes this worse.<br />We should be trying to improve standards, not water everything down.Tomhttp://www.honorarynewfie.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19208183.post-51732855223406064522010-03-20T22:45:54.627+00:002010-03-20T22:45:54.627+00:00Hi Will,
Enjoyed the chat at Karaoke after confe...Hi Will,<br /><br />Enjoyed the chat at Karaoke after conference. Sorry I never stayed to listen to your singing. <br /><br />Enjoyed reading your posts. I suspect your writing is better than your singing.Johnnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19208183.post-2480610647758550392010-03-19T15:01:19.110+00:002010-03-19T15:01:19.110+00:00I did'nt mean poor presentational skills I mea...I did'nt mean poor presentational skills I mean't honed skills to get over the bias of the resident knuckle heads.<br /><br />My daughter is doing presentations day in day out to very senior managers and politicians on both sides of the Atlantic and in in Europe in two other languages. It is not about intelligence whatever that may mean, it is about presenting the correct information in a manner that does not threaten the recipients. She had to learn that as you should know.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19208183.post-74118284195547336412010-03-19T14:37:20.629+00:002010-03-19T14:37:20.629+00:00I don't think the problem is that women have p...I don't think the problem is that women have poor presentational skills. Politics is not supposed to be about presentation, it's supposed to be about substance and the willingness to work for others to improve society.<br /><br />It's interesting that women are over-represented in the caring professions yet under represented in politics. Because if politics is not about caring and wanting to help people, what is it about?<br /><br />Maybe that is the issue we need to be looking at rather than selection processes or electoral reform.Indyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04383904151475839441noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19208183.post-1858990384108507212010-03-19T13:26:40.803+00:002010-03-19T13:26:40.803+00:00To tell you the truth, I am buggered if I can come...To tell you the truth, I am buggered if I can come up with a fair way of getting more women into Holyrood except having better education and preparation an grounding for female candidates to raise their presentational skills at selection.<br /><br />This may mean that a better effort should be raised to bring women into the political process and help them master the boy's club rules<br /><br />as for this,<br /><br />"but don't tell you precisely what's happening in, say, Airdrie."<br /><br />well, nothing is ever happening in Airdrie except getting shafted by Coatbridge Labour.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19208183.post-87220740985406567372010-03-19T12:12:04.957+00:002010-03-19T12:12:04.957+00:00All of that is still positive discrimination.
In ...All of that is still positive discrimination.<br /><br />In a 16- or 17-strong regional team there "should" be one LGBT candidate, two disabled candidates, and one candidate born outwith Scotland. What would that do to your lists of MSPs who would have been elected?<br /><br />I'd say it would be interesting and possibly democratically justifiable to require parties to put up a set of candidates equivalent to the number of places on offer in any STV election - i.e. a party can stand three candidates or none in a 3-member district and four or none in a 4-member. I think if you did that the shame would be there. I don't see it happening though.Marco Biagihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00556542210042853649noreply@blogger.com