(Shipley)
(Con):...Yet again there are many more issues that I
would like to cover today, but I do not have time. We have
blatant discrimination against men in businesses, organisations
and politics, where we are hellbent on having more women. No care
is given to how that is achieved, so we now have Positive
discrimination, which is, as it says, discrimination. People
think, not without justification, that women have been
discriminated against in the past, but rather than thinking the
solution is to remove that discrimination, it seems their agenda
is to try to reverse it and say, “We want you to be discriminated
against in the way that we were for all those years.” That kind
of revenge tactic is what Positive discrimination is. [Laughter.]
The hon. Member for Brent Central (Dawn Butler) laughs, but
women-only shortlists, which she may have been a beneficiary of,
discriminate against men. She thinks it is funny, but the people
of Blaenau Gwent did not think it was funny when Labour lost one
of its safest seats in 2005 simply because it had imposed a
women-only shortlist and denied a good local man with impeccable
local credentials the chance of standing. He stood as an
independent and won the seat, which had been one of Labour’s
safest seats in the country. That indicates the hon. Lady is
probably slightly out of touch with working-class Labour votes
around the country.
(Brent Central) (Lab):
What amuses me is how out of touch the hon. Gentleman is when he
talks about the hoo-hah over girls as young as 18 years old being
forced to wear short skirts and high heels to serve men. He talks
about the “untouchable status” of women when we try to get some
balance and equality into the system. Without all-women
shortlists, this House would not be as diverse as it is, which I
am sure the hon. Gentleman has taken offence at.
: I do not really
want to get into women-only shortlists, apart from saying that
they clearly discriminate against men. There are only two
possible reasons to have a women-only shortlist: either the women
standing are not as good as the men and therefore need Positive
discrimination to help them, or the Labour party selection
committee is so sexist it would choose a worse man than a better
woman. If the hon. Lady believes the Labour party is stuffed with
sexists who would choose a worse man than a better woman, I will
not disagree with her, but it is hardly a ringing endorsement of
people running the Labour party up and down the country. I will
not even go on to the barmy idea that our stretched police forces
should now extend the list of hate incidents—not even hate
crimes—that they spend time on to cover misogyny and maybe
misandry, but, in all likelihood, just misogyny...
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