Andy Wainwright
2016-02-12 10:09:11 UTC
Letter to press. Isn't it time we had a gender balanced parliament.
(published this week in the East Anglian Daily Times, they've among other cool things i.e. mainly real news a large and largely uncensored letters page)
Isn't it time we had a gender balanced parliament.
Sir,
Research has shown almost conclusively that men and women think in different ways, and that ability combined with the mindset of men allows for true intellect. Yet we have a parliament that is still very much male dominated. In this climate, a banker is seen as more useful than a mother- whilst bankers indeed do important work, mothering is perhaps more important as mums are largely responsible for teaching their children to be good citizens with good manners.
It would be very easy to create a parliament that represents both sexes almost equally. We give each voter two votes, one to be cast for a man and one for a woman, merging two constituencies into one with two MPs would not be a difficult task.
The last referendum on electoral reform was frankly a joke- the Alternative Vote would benefit Labour more than the other parties. So why was this offered in the referendum by the Tory/Liberal coalition instead of the Additional Member system, where we vote for local MPs as usual and parties with far less seats than votes cast get additional MPs from a party list. This is simpler and fairer, and could be incorporated into a gender-balanced electoral system.
More worrying, changes to the electoral register left many eligable voters without a voice at the last election- the fact that the demographic affected, mainly poorer, younger people, tend to be Labour or Green voters, and this smacks of gerrymandering.
It was the great Indian leader Gandhi who famously said if India couldn't behave itself when it came to politics- such as rejecting terrorism, he would rather his country remain under British rule. With a vote looming to possibly leave the EU, we need to get our own house in order before we too can talk about independence that would benefit the people not corrupt and incompetent politicians. At present, there are plans to refurbish at great cost the Houses Of Parliament. Wouldn't it make more sense to build a new one, seated in a round which is more conducive to constructive debate, and turn the old one into a museum.
(published this week in the East Anglian Daily Times, they've among other cool things i.e. mainly real news a large and largely uncensored letters page)
Isn't it time we had a gender balanced parliament.
Sir,
Research has shown almost conclusively that men and women think in different ways, and that ability combined with the mindset of men allows for true intellect. Yet we have a parliament that is still very much male dominated. In this climate, a banker is seen as more useful than a mother- whilst bankers indeed do important work, mothering is perhaps more important as mums are largely responsible for teaching their children to be good citizens with good manners.
It would be very easy to create a parliament that represents both sexes almost equally. We give each voter two votes, one to be cast for a man and one for a woman, merging two constituencies into one with two MPs would not be a difficult task.
The last referendum on electoral reform was frankly a joke- the Alternative Vote would benefit Labour more than the other parties. So why was this offered in the referendum by the Tory/Liberal coalition instead of the Additional Member system, where we vote for local MPs as usual and parties with far less seats than votes cast get additional MPs from a party list. This is simpler and fairer, and could be incorporated into a gender-balanced electoral system.
More worrying, changes to the electoral register left many eligable voters without a voice at the last election- the fact that the demographic affected, mainly poorer, younger people, tend to be Labour or Green voters, and this smacks of gerrymandering.
It was the great Indian leader Gandhi who famously said if India couldn't behave itself when it came to politics- such as rejecting terrorism, he would rather his country remain under British rule. With a vote looming to possibly leave the EU, we need to get our own house in order before we too can talk about independence that would benefit the people not corrupt and incompetent politicians. At present, there are plans to refurbish at great cost the Houses Of Parliament. Wouldn't it make more sense to build a new one, seated in a round which is more conducive to constructive debate, and turn the old one into a museum.