Quotas won't fix sexism

Why do men get more funding from various sources over female candidates?

Julie Bishop visit Ipswich today. Picture: Brenda Strong

IF THERE is one thing that makes me cringe more than people who don't eat broccoli, it's quotas.

The Liberal Party has announced it is determined to solve the issue of having very few female MPs. With just 18 of the 84 Liberal MPs being women, there is certainly a serious issue within the ranks.

Apparently, they are going to help fundraise to get more women into parliament. The Coalition has set a target to preselect women in 50 percent of winnable seats by 2025.

Now, this might sound like a strange gripe for someone like me, but I have never been able to understand quotas.

The better question is: why do men get more funding from various sources over female candidates?

Instead of setting quotas for the number of women you need to have in parliament, you need to start changing society's outdated values.

I'm not saying women get the pointy end of the stick all the time, but instead of trying to put sticking plasters on prehistoric cultural norms, we should address the root cause.

Equality isn't about ensuring 50 percent of people representing Liberal values in parliament are women, it's changing the underlying issue of why that is.

We need to change the little voice in the back of some people's heads that say 'a man could do that' to 'anyone could do that'.

That is the real issue here.

Originally published as Quotas won't fix sexism