Vale of Glamorgan Labour Party proud to discriminate?

It looks like the Vale of Glamorgan CLP has adopted an all-women shortlist.

As far as I'm concerned AWS are blatantly immoral and illegal, despite whatever temporary hack the government put in place in 2002 to bar election candidates from the Sex Discrimination Act until 2015.

Let's just quote a few lines, and replace the word women with men if people can't read how sexist it is without a little prompting.

"We have a long history of championing men into elected office".

He added: "We have the highest representation of male councillors on the Vale of Glamorgan Council and are delighted to support the selection of a new parliamentary candidate from a men-only shortlist."

Discrimination is discrimination no matter who you're discriminating against.

6 comments

Comment from: Miller 2.0 [Visitor]

Paul, see the Sex Discrimination Act 2002. Legalises it. No successful human rights cases against it so far.

You talk about replacing words, fair enough; All this is is an attempt to replace MPs... men, elected by men, from men.

6th August 2009 @ 10:13

Comment from: Paul Smith [Member] · http://www.dasmirnov.net/

You see Tom, the Sex Discrimination Act 2002, only excludes parliamentary candidates until 2015. Why is it only in effect until then, if its right to discriminate against men, why not do it indefinitely? Because they know damn well its sexist and immoral. The Labour Party just tried to save some face after getting defeated in the courts on this issue in the 90s.

6th August 2009 @ 12:09

Comment from: DM Andy [Visitor] · http://blog.andydowland.com

Paul, I respectfully disagree. As you've been a Labour PPC yourself I'm surprised that you think you've been discriminated against in any way.

In effect the Labour Party has 632 posts to offer as parliamentary candidates. The policy of the party is to move towards a situation where those posts are split 50/50 between men and women. That seems like a noble goal to me - one we have not yet achieved, but unless you think that men make better candidates then it's one that we should strive towards. Working towards that needs all women shortlists. I really don't see why you have a problem with it.

7th August 2009 @ 22:36

Comment from: Paul Smith [Member] · http://www.dasmirnov.net/

Andy of course it hasn't effected me, nor did I say it effected me.

Try telling the men who have been told they can't stand for no reason other than the fact that they are men, that they're not being discriminated against.

8th August 2009 @ 08:12

Comment from: DM Andy [Visitor] · http://blog.andydowland.com

It does not mean that they cannot be parliamentary candidates, it just means that they can't be parliamentary candidates in that particularly seat.

That might sound unfair to someone who lives in Vale of Glamorgan and wants to represent that seat in the House of Commons but candidates can't afford to be choosy if they really want to be an MP. It's all about making sure that Labour fields the best candidates and that's why I approve of the AWS system.

10th August 2009 @ 21:25

Comment from: Paul Smith [Member] · http://www.dasmirnov.net/

Alright, they cannot be parlaimentary candidates in that seat - for no reason other than the fact they're men!

13th August 2009 @ 15:13

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