JUDGING women by gender is deeply reactionary, patronising and insulting; these are my feelings as a women and in light of the latest proposals to entice women into politics. The Women and Equalities Committee at Westminster has suggested that political parties should be fined if they don’t ensure 45 per cent of their candidates are women. This is outrageous.
The law currently gives women the same rights as men to put themselves forward for selection as candidates, so what is the need to have women-only lists and now a new 45 per cent rule?
Many women are currently at the helm of public life, getting there through their determination, merit and ability, not because of their gender. But let’s take this a step further. What next: are we going to demand voters in certain areas vote only for women candidates to allow quotas to be achieved and to obtain the correct political balance? What exactly does direct discrimination bring to the table? As a woman, I know for my community and for the bigger picture of the country, I and indeed we, should endeavour to select the correct candidates who want to take up the challenge not because of their gender but because of their ability to represent their constituents.
Catriona C Clark,
52 Hawthorn Drive,
Banknock, Falkirk.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel