ALTHOUGH some National readers may disagree, the weekly First Minister’s Question time bout between Nicola Sturgeon, Kezia Dugdale and Ruth Davidson is something we should take great pride in.
That the three largest parties are led by women in Scotland is quite an incredible feat.
It shouldn’t be. It doesn’t feel like it is. It feels pretty natural. But you realise exactly how rare it is when you look at Westminster or when you look at even the Welsh Assembly or the Northern Ireland Assembly.
And it can sometimes feel like it’s going backwards. The LibDems in Scotland look like they’re about to replace their only female MSP, the incredibly competent Alison McInnes with another man. The Tory conference just past had 16 all-male panels. The next leader of the Tories will likely be a man.
Not all of our readers are big fans of quotas, but, the truth is they work. Hopefully in 20 or 30 years’ time we can stop having this conversation.
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