“For reasons of equal opportunity and improved legislation, about half of our MPs should be women.”

For reasons of equal opportunity, half of our ABC guests should be conservatives. I think Southern Baptists are also underrepresented. Also, anti-gay marriage Muslims.

If women want 50% of women they can vote for women over men come election time. This is a democracy. But apparently, Smith isn’t happy with the way women vote.

Also, for reasons of opportunity, Tony Smith, a white male should stop writing for On Line Opinion and make a place for a black woman. Or are his socialist rules very selective and seasonal?

An important question (not answered by the author) is “Who is male and who is female”.

It is becoming a very important question with the federal government's policy that at least 40% of government boards should be made up of females.

So who is a female?

Or, how does someone tell who is male and who is female?

I discount feminists and university academics from answering this question, as their record is to say very little or nothing positive about the male gender, and this is sexism, bigotry and discrimination.

In fact, it is plausible that feminists and university academics should not be allowed to vote in elections due to their sexism, bigotry and discrimination.

Tony tells us that it is a widely held belief that we should have equal representation.

Widely held by who Tony, & who did the research.

I think it is reasonably easy to show that our standard of government has fallen, drastically in recent years, just as the number of women in government, minister positions, & premierships have risen.

Now this is a fact, not just a statement, so what does it say for your desire for more ladies.

There is no doubt that the transport sector in Queensland if failing badly. Have you noticed the pitch of the voices of our transport ministers lately?

So come on mate, bare foot, pregnant, & behind the sink is where these ladies belong, not on ministerial leather. Of course in deference to Ludwig we probably should drop the pregnant bit, but you know what I mean.

Is Tony Smith aware that many women have (a) no interest in politics and (b) no interest in being politicians? I thought we were meant to be about choice.

Perhaps Tony frowns upon, say, women of colour with no desire to work in Canberra, but I don’t. In my experience, the greatest supporters of “affirmative action” tend be white middleclass leftwing female careerists and white male socialists from university backgrounds. He should stick to writing cliché-filled antiwar poems.

BPT,
But would it make any difference if the author changed their name from Tony to Toni.

And what happens if someone calls themselves Toni, but is actually male (whatever male is).

Would they be thrown out of their political party?

Or maybe we could just dispense with the first name and have an initial instead, and then every candidate has to fill out a statuary declaration saying if they are male or female (or if they think they are male or female).

And perhaps the ballot card should clearly show who is male and who is female, according to the statuary declarations?

Or maybe it could be taken in turns, and one election has only female candidates, and the next election has only male candidates based on their statuary declarations?

So many questions, so little time to think about them all before the next election.