Harriet Harman - Men should sit out of next leadership contest

I think the more prescient question would be what is going on on in the Labour Party when the Conservatives have had two female leaders who have both become Prime Minister with fewer female MP's in the time Labour have had none. AWS won't solve that conundrum because its not looking at the reasons why they need AWS when the Tories didn't.

a highly capable woman*

She must have said it to spark debate; it can’t be a serious suggestion.

I was disappointed that Harriet Harman didn’t go for the leadership herself; if she really wanted Labour to have a female leader, she should have put herself forward. I heard her discussing it on the radio once (the decision not to) and it infuriated me. Bloody typical that a highly capable women didn’t even consider it when men with a lot less experience and skills weren’t hesistating.

Labour should do more to encourage women but this suggestion won’t be taken seriously.

Whenever I've seen positive discrimination in the workplace it's always brought out hideous misogyny from men who I've thought were mostly harmless so I have massive reservations about their effectiveness.

But that misogyny was already there - I think they're a blunt force to try and get the higher number of women normalised - then they can be dropped. Kinda like Singapore coming down hard on chewing gum until everyone's used to being civilised and not spitting it on the ground, then quietly and slowly relaxing the laws.

She'd have been an odd choice for Labour leader though.

Men who are not the best have been getting the job for many many years. Why not let women who are good enough to have a go? No one is suggesting that women who aren't suitable should be considered.

As far as I can remember Margaret Thatcher was a woman, not sure if she managed to achieve anything though.
What is needed is the best PERSON for the job.

I agree it would never happen, as there would be way too much resistance to the idea. You'd soon see how many men wouldn't be able to stop themselves from complaining that none of the possible women candidates could ever be good enough. They would also complain about how terrible it is that some talented men would miss out, completely missing the irony of that.

I also agree that there would be an onslaught of criticism, every mistake would be treated as a huge indicator that they weren't up to the job. A certain type of man would also take it as evidence that women generally aren't suitable.

I'd be impressed if it did happen. Tbh you could have all women candidates for decades and still not catch up with the number of all male candidates.

Never going to happen.

While I understand why they happen, I'm not a massive fan of AWS. I think it hides misogyny and gives the appearance of solving a problem when that isn't the case.

I think she is trying to gauge the sexism in the party. Interesting move.

1. It would never happen
2. A transwoman would be fielded by Labour.