Hire me not my gender

"I'm always rather nervous about how you talk about women who are active in politics, whether they want to be talked about as women or as politicians."

John F. Kennedy

Dear Editor,

I have always been an advocate for women’s rights and I believe that everyone should be considered equally for a job whether they are a man or woman, or of any race, so long as they can perform the job equally well. So when it came that we may have the opportunity to promote a woman as the Western Australian Governor I thought “why not, I’m sure a woman can do the job equally as well as a man.” Then I came across some articles that got me questioning.

Many people have written articles that tell us “It’s about time Western Australia got a woman Governor” or that “Western Australia needs a woman Governor.” Comments like these intrigued me. I wasn’t sure if I had missed an area of the job description of the State Governor that implied it was better performed by a woman. I delved further into some of these arguments that strongly supporting women in the role as Governor in hopes of finding out what basis they had to form such a strong opinion. For the most part I found them lacking any foundation for an argument that suggests a woman would be more qualified for the role. One editorial in Perth Now seemed to focus on previous women in powerful roles in WA such as Edith Cowan who was the first woman elected to an Australian Parliment, when she won a seat in the Western Australian Legislative Assembly, in 1921 and Carmen Lawrence who became our first female State Premier in 1990. From this writer’s point of view Western Australia has been a "trailblazer in politics." So I asked myself: why is it so important that the position of Governor in Western Australia be held by a woman? Equal Opportunity Commissioner Yvonne Henderson said: "There's no lack of good candidates and I hope the Government does go ahead and appoints a woman just to send a message that women are as competent and are able to do all the same sorts of jobs that men do. And I think the time has come when people are pleased to see women occupying these positions." I would have thought that, if ever, when our country appointed The Honourable Julia Guillard as Prime Minister this message would have been sent.

Is appointing a woman to send a message really the right decision, or is it tokenism? In New South Wales Her Excellency Professor Marie Bashir, AC was sworn in as Governor of State in 2001, in Queensland Her Excellency Ms Penelope Wensley AO was sworn in as Governor of state in 2008, and Her Excellency Ms Quentin Bryce AC was sworn in as Governor General of the Commonwealth of Australia in 2008. With two out of seven State Governors already woman and our Governor General also a woman, Australia is certainly not afraid to offer these roles to women. However, when does it stop becoming equal opportunity and start becoming about evening the numbers? Perhaps we should also consider the person’s race, there certainly aren't enough people of Aboriginal decent in government, or possibly look for those with disabilities before appointing a State Governor.

Arguing for a woman as Governor purely because “it’s about time” isn’t taking a step forward politically; it’s taking a step backwards. Where female CEO’s earn, on average, two thirds of their male equivalents, Australia should stop trying to focus on sending a message and let companies and employers recognise that if a job can be done equally well by a man or a woman then they should get equal opportunities in that position. If women start to be promoted to even up the numbers and appear more politically correct then we are in the danger of having people in a higher position of power when one wasn’t earned. In a workplace this would result in less faith in the company, and if we start doing it for our Governors it could result in Australians having less faith in their Government.

To be sent to:

Sam Weir, editor at the Sunday Times:

weirs@sundaytimes.newsltd.com.au