Peggy Balfour, Mullumbimby
Mungo MacCallum (Echo, October 16) has analysed the term ‘misogyny’ for us. Perhaps he might look at the term ‘misandry’ (mistrust, dislike, fear, hatred of men).
While Julia Gillard held the floor accusing Tony Abbott of misogyny, she was attempting to protect Peter Slipper in order to keep him in the Speaker’s chair. She was obviously panicking at the thought of being one number down in the count.
Most ALP women (if not all) are members of an organisation, Emily’s List. Emily’s List was introduced into Australia by Joan Kerner and Carmel Lawrence. Julia Gillard helped write Emily’s List’s Constitution.
Most Australian states’ abortion laws allow termination up to 20 weeks; after that it is a criminal offence because the baby is then viable outside the womb. Not so in Victoria. It’s been stated that to receive financial and political support of Emily’s List a candidate must support the abortion of a full-term baby, right up to the moment of birth.
Besides its anti-life activities, Emily’s List is committed to affirmative action, meaning discrimination against men in employment and promotion until an equal number of women are employed at all levels. As the pool of available women is always smaller (because of child-bearing and child-raising) than the pool of men, affirmative action involves gross discrimination against men instead of employment and promotion on merit. One wonders why ALP men tolerate the sexism (misandry) of Emily’s List.
Quotes from http://bit.ly/R92VTF: ‘One retired MP but influential member of the ALP, who said he didn’t want to be named, because “I don’t want to cop their wrath… They can be vicious,” described them as a barnacle that has attached themselves to the Labor Party.
‘That a virtually single-issue lobby group could have seized power in one of Australia’s two main parties is what’s really scary.’
A list of Australian members here: www.emilyslist.org.au/our-mps.
