I just don't get it. Why would someone pick anyone other than who the felt was the best person for the job? Who cares what color, gender, religion, or sexual preference they are? Whether you're talking about politicians, possible employees, or prospective students, I'm for picking the person best suited for the position.
But hey, at least they gave the project a suitably lame name...
Nov. 18 (Bloomberg) -- Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's Cabinet approved planned legislation aimed at forcing parties to name a woman candidate for every three men running for election.
Approval was a turnaround from a 452-140 defeat last month in Parliament, when a secret ballot allowed many ruling coalition members to oppose the provision that was part on an overhaul of electoral laws. Berlusconi's 25 Cabinet members agreed to restart the legislative process for the measure as a separate bill.
``This is a clear sign,'' Berlusconi said in a news conference today in Rome. ``We would have applied the principle anyway, even without the measure.''
Known as the ``pink quotas,'' the measure if passed won't enter into full force until elections in 2011. Parties that don't meet the minimum threshold of women candidates in 2006 would pay a fine.
``It's going to be gradual,'' said Equal Opportunities Minister Stefania Prestigiacomo, who drafted the bill. ``After a setback, we want to recover lost ground.''
Newspapers including the Corriere della Sera reported Prestigiacomo, one of two female ministers in the government, cried in a Cabinet meeting after the measure was defeated in the lower house of parliament on Oct. 13.
Elsewhere in Europe, the situation is mixed. France has equal-opportunities legislation that forces parties to put forward the same number of male and female candidates in some elections or pay fines. The U.K. doesn't have quotas for candidates. |
Well of course the French have it. It suitably progressive and stupid, so I'm sure they pioneered the idea. |
