Monday, February 05, 2007

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1. DC on using gender as a basis for selecting candidates: “… you risk falling into the trap that if there are not enough women, you need to get some, regardless of the talent you’re passing over to get them”

   I agree, which is why I suggested gender be a factor but not the only one. In practice I think the NFL’s approach is preferable: It doesn’t establish a quota for black head coaches, it simply mandates that teams make good-faith efforts to interview black candidates (from the growing pool of black assistant coaches) for open head coaching positions. It seems to have been a reasonably effective strategy.

   In the context of Northern Ireland I think an analogous strategy would be to focus on recruiting women as party members and then as candidates for local councils, and make good-faith efforts to find women who’ve been successful at council level and consider them for assembly candidates.

   As for the supposed conflict between selecting candidates based “what they can do” versus “what they are”, political parties routinely make decisions on candidates based on their relatives ("he comes from a famous republican family"), geographical balance ("we need a local man, not someone parachuting in"), ethnic background ("she’ll bring in some votes from the XYZ community"), and other factors unrelated to strict merit. Gender is just another factor to add to the mix.

   Posted by  on Feb 06, 2007 @ 08:50 PM

2. GA:  “I agree, which is why I suggested gender be a factor but not the only one. In practice I think the NFL’s approach is preferable: It doesn’t establish a quota for black head coaches, it simply mandates that teams make good-faith efforts to interview black candidates (from the growing pool of black assistant coaches) for open head coaching positions. It seems to have been a reasonably effective strategy. “

   Except, of course, whenever a black coach *isn’t* hired, the same talking heads repeat the same speech about racism in NFL and why arent there more black coaches.  Coaching should and, with one or two really notable exceptions, is a meritocracy.  Part of the reason there aren’t more comes clear when they dig up a few of yesterday’s great players and interview them.  Similarly, you’re talking the top tier of a profession that does not suffer also-rans, at least as a rule.  The success is measured in victories, not how many black or white noses were on staff.

   GA:  “In the context of Northern Ireland I think an analogous strategy would be to focus on recruiting women as party members and then as candidates for local councils, and make good-faith efforts to find women who’ve been successful at council level and consider them for assembly candidates. “

   As a rule, the folks who are driven to be candidates do not have to be sought out.  It is the nature of the beast.  It is only when the seat in question is a long shot that one has to flail about looking for a candidate.

   GA:  “As for the supposed conflict between selecting candidates based “what they can doâ€� versus “what they areâ€�, political parties routinely make decisions on candidates based on their relatives ("he comes from a famous republican family"), geographical balance ("we need a local man, not someone parachuting in"), ethnic background ("she’ll bring in some votes from the XYZ community"), and other factors unrelated to strict merit. Gender is just another factor to add to the mix. “

   And I can think of examples where that kind of thinking has landed on its arse, simple because it looks at something about the candidate and not the candidate—a subtle distinction.  That sort of thinking only works if you have a deep pool of talent to begin with—its a luxury for those who can afford it.  To listen to Fair-deal and others, the Unionist pool is fairly shallow to begin with.

   Posted by  on Feb 06, 2007 @ 09:43 PM

3. DC: “Except, of course, whenever a black coach *isn’t* hired, the same talking heads repeat the same speech about racism in NFL and why arent there more black coaches.”

   Some people are always going to be whiners; that doesn’t necessarily mean that the goal and process of encouraging diversity is not justified and useful. What the NFL has now is at least better than the days when apparently qualified candidates weren’t considered because they just weren’t “our kind of person”.

   “That sort of thinking only works if you have a deep pool of talent to begin with—its a luxury for those who can afford it.  To listen to Fair-deal and others, the Unionist pool is fairly shallow to begin with.”

   I do agree that the unionist parties, especially the UUP, would be better off building up their party organizations (not to mention their fundraising efforts) and looking to their own policies and their attractiveness (or unattractiveness) to prospective party members, including women in particular, as opposed to engaging in mere tokenism.

   Also, as I’ve previously commented at some point, NI seems to have a severe oversupply of elected positions relative to its size, and hence apparently a shortage of competent politicians to fill them. (I mean, in the US there are individual counties that are bigger than all of NI, and are run by 5-10 person councils plus a county executive.)

   Posted by  on Feb 07, 2007 @ 12:05 AM

4. lib2016

   “Sinn Fein successfully put their case through an undefunded office staffed by one woman against a British government staff of thousands”

   Why so coy about the identity of that one woman, her criminal antecedants and why she was in DC not in Belfast? I would have thought that her brand of murderous zeal should be celebrated.

   Posted by  on Feb 07, 2007 @ 12:32 AM
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