If I am voting for who I want to represent my interests at national or local level, I look for someone who shares my concerns, morals, ethics and priorities and who will work hard on my behalf.
If I need someone to mow my lawn, to change a light fitting, to wallpaper my hall - I want the most skilled, qualified, enthusiastic person available.
I actually couldn't give a gnat's chuff whether that person is male or female, I just want the best.
The European Union now says I am not allowed to have the best. Not if the best is a man. No, I must apply equality to my decision, so that for every time I hire a man, I hire a woman the next time. EU enforces Positive Discrimination in the Boardroom
Now given the choice of who to decorate my home I admit that I'd choose my Mum every time - she's a fantastic decorator. But for electrical work I have two brilliant blokes who between them have 80-odd years experience, qualifications oozing from every pore, are very skilled and pleasant to have in the house. Next time I need a socket changing, should I scour the area for a female electrician to ensure that the Gods of Equality have been appeased? I think not.
Now obviously I'm taking my interpretation of the EU's latest diktat to extremes here, but how long until they try to impose such nonsense on every walk of life?
This week, the European Parliament voted overwhelming for proposals to force big companies to fill 40% of non-executive posts with women.
It does not matter to the EU that there is a man better equipped for the role. It does not matter to the EU that perhaps no women apply for the role. No, if 40% of your board aren't female you'd better get a couple of your directors booked in for gender reassignment surgery pronto or face the wrath of Brussels.
Germany, which has long objected to quotas, said it would force its companies to have 30% female boards by 2016. Well, let's be honest, we all remember those female East German shot-putters from the 1980s - you could easily pass off 30% of the men on any board of directors as one of them and never arouse any bureaucratic suspicion.
I'm all for women achieving high office. I'm all for equality. I'm all for the dismantling of the old boys networks and sexist practices. But we do women no favours when we advance them by discriminating against men. As far as I'm concerned, there is no such thing as 'positive' discrimination. Discrimination is always a negative force - it is always used to keep someone down. And I'm sure there will be the strident feminists who argue that for too long it has been women who've been at the blunt end of sexual discrimination and it's about time the tide turned. But in discriminating against men, we are turning ourselves into a female version of the very patriarchy that we claim to oppose.
When all is said & done, don't we all just want the best man for the job, regardless of whether she's actually a woman?
Feminist Misogynist -v- Positive Discrimination
