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Sports |
GOOD morning all – and the best of all possible weeks to you. We’ll open
your Quiz e-mails about JK
McCarthy beginning today and unveil another topic for your consideration.
But first ...
***
ONE of the saddest commentaries about the state of women in our country
came last week from a UNDP project researcher. Enaha Kwa noted that there
had been a continuing decline in the number of women members elected to
Parliament – from the highest number of three in 1977 to just one in
2002.
***
MS Kwa gently made the point that the Government has yet to reach its
commitment under the Commonwealth Plan of Action for Gender Equality that
calls for 30% of the 109 seats to be occupied by women. And her
conclusions echoed those advocated for years by The National – women
can’t afford to wait for another decade or two before the entrenched and
blinkered sexism of their male counterparts diminishes.
***
WE believe the answer is to seize the opportunity presented by
Parliament’s intention to remove the regional seats, and to reserve those
20 seats for women candidates. In that way no women would be government
appointees, removing the main objection to “reserved” seats. Voting could
be restricted to women or preferably be open to both sexes in the name of
gender equality.
***
AND so to JK McCarthy, one of the best-remembered icons of the
territorial period. We asked you to tell us a little about JK, and we’re
delighted with the answers. Our first e-mail came from John Zyzniewski, a
regular Quizzer who accessed an excellent summary of the McCarthy legend.
Zyz formerly worked with the PNGBC and is now with ABS in Adelaide.
***
AS with many entries to the Quiz, the information is regrettably too long
to use in full, but if you want to add to the bare bones possible here,
Zyz has provided the source he accessed, the popular Australian
Dictionary of Biography’s on-line edition. The dictionary brings together
other research from a variety of sources and can be accessed at: http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/references/A150206r.htm.
**
THE details of John’s response and other replies
tomorrow … we’ll catch up with you then.
– Dee Nesenolis
 
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