Creating a Senedd that doesn’t have equality at its heart in legislation is a very serious mistake
Siân Gwenllian MS, Chair of the cross-party group on Women in Senedd Cymru
As Chair of the cross-party group on Women in Senedd Cymru and a life-long campaigner for equality, I am immensely saddened by the withdrawal of the Senedd Cymru (Electoral Candidate Lists) Bill, and I recently urged fellow Senedd Members to vote against this undemocratic scrapping and undermining of the Senedd’s will.
Unfortunately, my appeal was unheeded.
Serious mistake
Creating a larger Senedd, elected in a proportional way that puts more value on every vote is an important step forward for the democracy of our nation. But, creating a Senedd that doesn’t have equality at its heart in legislation is a very serious mistake.
It is also a missed opportunity and an unacceptable indication that gender equality, somehow, doesn’t matter.
If we were serious about creating a legislature that is equal in terms of representation, we should not have u-turned on this Bill.
I know that doubts had been raised and that an outline of possible risks had been put forward, but there was an extended timetable in place.
Legal issues
The Senedd could have discussed and passed the Bill, and implemented the quotas in 2030, giving us years to resolve any legal issues that may arise following the passing of the Bill.
But the Government withdrew the Bill, rather than allowing the voice of the Senedd to be heard, to pass the legislation and then to work on finding solutions to any problems.
I proposed a very practical way forward if legal problems were to arise, namely passing the Bill in this Senedd and then asking for an Order in Council under section 109, in order to give competence to the Senedd in a retrospective provision.
Pragmatic
This is a view shared by lawyers as an entirely pragmatic way forward.
But, of course, in order to move forward with such an Order, we would need the support of the UK Government. I didn’t expect it from the previous Government, but, when a Labour Government was elected, the so-called party of fairness, I thought that the political will would ensure that we were able to resolve the legal problems and move forward.
It appears that my hope was misplaced, and that is hugely disappointing. It’s only by putting a statutory mechanism in place that we can create a Senedd that is truly equal in terms of gender, and which is, therefore, more effective in terms of improving the lives of everyone who lives in our country.
Without quotas, the reform package is incomplete, and the withdrawal of this Bill is a missed opportunity for Wales to lead the way on gender parity.
Support our Nation today
For the price of a cup of coffee a month you can help us create an independent, not-for-profit, national news service for the people of Wales, by the people of Wales.
Totally disagree. We need a Senedd with the best politicians in it. I don’r care if the Senedd is 100% women, 100% men or 100% Martians. I want the best for our country.
What I don’t want are token / 2nd rate politicians who have got in to fulfl a quota.
We already get a load of “2nd rate politicians” without having any quota. So that particular criticism doesn’t really hold up to scrutiny. We get the politicians we have whether second rate or otherwise because they are selected through a process where those with good greasy pole climbing skills and/or enjoy doing so have an advantage. Having the skills, attributes, motives and character to be a valuable representative is often not enough. The “quota” that political parties should have is to ensure that a high proportion of the pool they select their candidates from meet those criteria irrespective of sex… Read more »
Equity-based hiring is a terrible idea: we should be hiring on competence alone. If a woman wants to become a Senedd member there are no more obstacles to her doing so than there are for a man: Sian Gwenllian is living proof of this. You’ll find that it’s always in the well-paid, high-profile jobs that feminists want preferential treatment. For example, you’ll never hear Sian Gwenllian calling for more female refuse collectors or brickies. You’ll also notice that it only ever works one way: the majority of nurses and teachers are women, but Sian’s absolutely fine with that inequity. Finally,… Read more »
The main job of democratically elected representatives is to represent the people. There’s no other “competence” required other than to be representative. If the population is half female then so should the representatives. Being good at running things is the job of unelected bureaucrats but even they can’t be too good or too influential otherwise we’d have a technocracy and, we’re told, that’s a terrible thing.
You should do some reading on the (statistical) psychological differences between men and women: it’ll enlighten you and help you to make more informed comments.
Generalisations does not mean it applies to any individual so your point is meaningless.
Aren’t the representatives supposed to represent the views of the voters who elect them, not to be representatives of an identity group?
Sian Gwenllian is being very disingenuous here. The were fundamental flaws in a bill which would have ushered in gender self Id via the back door. Ie those born male to be treated as if they were women, just because they say they are. This is not the law, and crucially, this part of the law is not devolved to Wales. As Sian Gwenllian knows. Her suggestion of ‘let’s just wave it through now and sort all the details out afterwards’ is laughable. Either she didn’t understand the bill – or she doesn’t, at heart, care about women’s equality. But… Read more »
So wrong in every way posssible…it should always be the best person for the job, not some nonsensible utterings from someone who has done very little herself to prove her utterings.
It was a serious mistake to even consider gender quotas in the first place!! It was also a mistake to rule out STV in favour of closed lists. If Plaid Cymru want the Senedd to have further powers (which I agree with) then we need the best individuals for the job. Based on meritocracy and not gender quotas. Had gender quotas been implemented then it would have played into the hands of the abolitionists.
Plaid have shot themselves and this country in both feet by cosying up to Labour on this closed list nonsense and flirting with all sorts of “equality” concepts which would fail to deliver in reality. I anticipate Reform will do much better under the new system, a gift to the biggest colonialist in our political spectrum.
After suppressing women in the work place since ever, try to level the playing field and its all “Down with that sort of thing”. And looking around, I am not exactly sure we have “the best people for the job” on the male side that had not had lesser pay and had to take time out and many other issues blokes are not afflicted with.
Here you go Jeff: this’ll help you understand…
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Why-Men-Earn-More-Startling/dp/1542751292
Yeah right, like someone who more or less started the misogynistic Men’s Rights Movement can be trusted to have a coherent, balanced position.
Same old same old – play the man because you’re too lazy to address the ball. If you had any idea what you were talking about you’d know that he’s been a lifelong women’s rights activist, and wrote the book with his daughters in mind.
So the MSs are ‘creating a Senedd’? The people should create their Senedd. This has been done countless times around the world by civilised countries by holding a properly set up Constitutional Convention which writes a draft Constitution. Which defines how MSs are elected. And has a 21st Century Bill of Rights written right here in Wales. All to be ratified by us in a Referendum.
Too much like the real thing. Our lot prefer to play at politics, posture all day long and draw a big salary.
This article is very revealing about the mindset of our current crop of politicians. Siân Gwenllian thinks the Welsh government should have wasted everyone’s time fighting a futile battle for a bill it doesn’t have the legal competence to pass, because doing so would have sent a message that gender equality matters. Politics to them isn’t about changing things: it’s about posing, messaging and signalling. It doesn’t matter whether your actions really advance gender equality: what matters is to show everyone that you believe in it.
Poor Cymru, run by the least able members of the family…
Sian Gwenllian is in the Nicola Sturgeon mode of feminists. ” I’m a feminist to my fingertips” but she actually supports men who say they are women. It would have sneaked gender self ID into Cymru and this is why it failed. The Llywydd warned that the Senedd doesn’t have legislative competence to go against the Equality Act 2010 but neither Labour or Plaid wanted their adherence to gender ideology questioned . It’s not about equality but about promoting men who say they are women just by declaring yourself to be one. Women’s Rights Network pointed out that the Senedd… Read more »
Sian is either confused or is being disingenuous. This Bill was not designed for ‘equality’ at all. 1. It allowed up to 100% women but capped men at 50%. I’m no mathematician, but that is not equality surely? Sounds a lot like sex discrimination. 2. The Bill allowed anyone to state they were a ‘woman’ without any challenge or repercussion. 3. The notes issued with the Bill were clear that anyone could self ID. So all those ‘women’ could have been men. 100% men. Sian and her party have been strangely silent on these issues. If she was so concerned… Read more »
‘Labour the party of fairness’ – that’s a joke. She knows very well that men identifying as women would have been allowed in as women. When a party doesn’t even know what a woman is we will never have fairness or equal representation. She should be totally ashamed of herself actively destroying equality for women. It’s constant lies and playing around with words to hide behind the utter disgrace Welsh Labour has become.
If the bill mentioned sex parity not gender parity, and it was accepted that transgender women do not possess female sex, would you support the bill then?
If a transgender woman became a Senedd Member and was NOT counted amongst the numbers of women, would you be happy for them to be a part of the democratic process?
I just want understand your kind of feminism and currently I don’t. What are the limits of the restrictions you want on transgender women?
Women don’t need gender equality, we need sex equality. The Senydd isn’t far off being balanced regarding the number of women and they got there on their own merits.
This was a ridiculous idea that could have resulted in a Senedd that had 100% women and all of them male, as you made the definition of woman anyone who identified as a woman. You would have enshrined gender self ID into law which has implications across the UK as we know from the Scottish debacle when S35 had to be enacted. No-one wants this, esp not women who know that there is only one type of woman and that is an adult human female.
“Labour, the so-called party of fairness”. I never heard anyone refer to the Labour Party as such. Is Siân setting up a straw man/woman with the intention of knocking him/her down. Plaid Tegwch has a nice ring to it, but which party could claim it?