Editorial: Northland a shining light in political equality

Whangarei Mayor Sheryl Mai.

I've lost count of the number of books I've dumped that exclaim all a woman needs for a successful career is comfy shoes and a supportive bra - or was it a supportive husband - I don't remember.

Irish suffragette Countess Markievich said all a gal needed was a tweed skirt and a gun. Thankfully, modern women have no need for guns - or tweed skirts.

The Labour Party's newly introduced gender quota system, calling for a 45 per cent female caucus, is the latest ridiculous garment for women - a token cloak of entitlement.

While currently at a 42 per cent caucus, the Labour Party is seeking the number of women to rise to 45 per cent by 2014 and 50 per cent by 2017. There's no Rosa Parks glory here for Labour women to celebrate - not when good men have to get up and give women a seat. The problem is not whether women have seats on the political bus, it's about why they're choosing not to come on the journey at all.

The party seems to be focusing at the wrong side of the race. We should be asking if women in Northland are politically fit enough.

Instead, Labour has chosen to stand in the House of Representatives, let's call that the finishing line, scratching their heads at the lack of lady derrieres on seats. An Irish campaign to increase parliamentary participation of women, called Women For Election, cited the five Cs as snuffing out women's political ambition - confidence, cash, candidate selection procedures, culture and childcare.

Have we recruitment drives in Northland to get more women into politics, local or national? Are women being shoulder-tapped for the job - the vacant Whangarei National seat for example?

There is no shortage of female leaders - look into any community trust meeting. What's stopping them from taking a number and lining up for the race to the Beehive?

Northland can celebrate a success in gender equality at our recent local elections. Whangarei District Council has a female mayor, Sheryl Mai, and deputy mayor, Sharon Morgan. Also, the Far North District Council has a female deputy mayor, Tania McInnes.

There is also now a healthy gender balance on both councils as women had put their names forward for election. Still, we don't have any female MPs where big decisions are being made.

Political gender quotas are like corsets - everything looks great from the outside but they're rigid, uncomfortable and highly impractical.

Hopefully, they too will fade out of fashion.