Latest news with #genderDiversity
The Guardian
03-07-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Frontbencher proposes alternative to quotas as Liberal party agonises over gender imbalance
The Liberal frontbencher Melissa McIntosh has called for the party to consider gender-balanced candidate pools as an alternative to quotas, as close to 100 women took part in a nearly three-hour meeting on Wednesday night on building gender diversity in the opposition. Party insiders in New South Wales say support for quotas is building, but any major reform to match Labor's rules first introduced in the mid-1990s is likely to take years. McIntosh, the shadow women's minister, wrote to the NSW Women's Council president, Berenice Walker, this week, urging the discussion not be reduced to a yes or no on quotas. 'Strong systems help open the door, but it is the party's culture that determines whether women stay, thrive, and reach the heights of leadership and success,' McIntosh wrote. She said she was open to quotas or some other mechanism for change, but warned addressing the party's culture needed to come first. 'A structural re-design might consider gender-balanced candidate pools to ensure equality of opportunity – consistent with our values – rather than prescribing outcomes. 'We should also examine leadership pipelines, mentorship initiatives, and other evidence-based mechanisms that reflect our principles. Culture and structure must evolve together.' Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email A candidate pool model would be similar to the 'A-list' of candidates for preselections introduced in Britain's Conservative party by the former prime minister David Cameron. Cameron put a freeze on candidate selection and introduced a priority list, with half of the list to be female and a large number to be from minority backgrounds. At Wednesday's meeting the council did not settle on a model for change or next steps, but participants said there was majority support for quotas and other significant changes. The NSW Young Liberals have called for a candidate pool model, and reiterated their support for it at their last meeting in May, following the federal election. Before this week's meeting, Walker said there would be an 'open discussion' of quotas. Those in the meeting said a majority of the participants, diverse in age, were in favour of quotas, with only a few speaking against them. One senior party member said there was 'no rush' to put forward a model. Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion They said it was unlikely that quotas, which would need to be added to the NSW Liberal constitution, and voted on by its state council, would be in place by the next state election in 2027. 'We're a long way away from it, because the structure is difficult,' they said. The federal leader, Sussan Ley, has said she is 'agnostic' on the party's approach to change, but told the National Press Club in June she was a 'zealot' on recruiting more women. The frontbencher Angus Taylor, who Ley defeated for the leadership, has publicly opposed quotas, and said it would 'subvert democratic processes', pointing instead towards more mentorship within the party. Vocal supporters for quotas, including the NSW senator Maria Kovacic, have called for more immediate action. Kovacic said she would support temporary quotas with a sunset period, and firm expiry date, to get more Liberal members over the line. 'Achieving this goal will likely take two election cycles … Once that balance is reached, we can return to the existing system with confidence that equity has been successfully embedded,' she said. 'A sunset clause would be an appropriate mechanism to ensure the temporary nature of a quota system.'
NHK
07-06-2025
- Entertainment
- NHK
Tokyo Pride 2025 aims to promote rights of sexual minorities
An LGBTQ+ event is being held in a park in Tokyo to promote understanding of gender diversity with the goal of achieving a society free of discrimination and prejudice. Tokyo Pride 2025, organized by a Tokyo-based NPO, got underway in Yoyogi Park in Shibuya Ward on Saturday. The event coincides with Pride Month celebrations in Japan, which aims to boost the rights of LGBTQ+ people. About 180 groups, including universities, companies and LGBTQ+ groups, are taking part in the two-day event, showcasing their activities and programs. Students from Ryukoku University in Kyoto asked attendees how they felt about the current situation surrounding sexual minorities. They had to identify one of three categories -- expectation, anxiety and anger -- and leave a message. On stage, pairs of women engaged in ballroom dancing which is traditionally danced by a man and a woman. One participant said while the LGBTQ issue seemed sensitive, learning about it at this event was fun. Pride Parade, one of features on Sunday, is scheduled to start at noon with people from the LGBTQ+ community and their supporters taking part.
ABC News
28-05-2025
- Politics
- ABC News
Kweensland. 1 by Ellen van Neerven
Kweensland. 1 is the first poem in a suite titled Kweensland: Sovereign Bodies and the Colonial Nation-State, which is about queer First Nations peoples and how traditional country does sit within the parameters of what is now called Queensland yet sovereignty was never ceded. It's about gender diversity before the ships came. About listening deeply to Dhagun and stories that have been silenced. These poems are an ode to what to some are small protests and small details, but to the poet, are revolutions. Ellen van Neerven belongs to the Mununjali Yugambeh people of south east Queensland. Ellen is an award-winning writer, editor and literary activist. They have authored three books including a new poetry collection Throat which explores different ways to be heard.
Wall Street Journal
13-05-2025
- Politics
- Wall Street Journal
Democracy in Crisis at the DNC
Remember last winter when Democratic National Committee officials struggled to explain their convoluted rules on gender diversity to an uncomprehending public? Now DNC officials are implicitly saying that they didn't understand the rules either—and are laying the groundwork for a purge of two of the winners in the party's leadership elections. Is this still the party that presents itself as the guarantor of democracy? Dylan Wells and Patrick Svitek report for the Washington Post:
