Should there be seperate "councils" for gender related issues?

[Smith_3]

I was wondering wether it would be a good idea to have seperate branches of legislative government, seperate "councils" for gender related issues. A "council" of women and a "council" of men, who have the sole authority with respect to questions that concern their gender only, but who must at all times have an equal number of members and whose opinions way equally heavy with regard to issues that concern everyone.

Within this scenario, for instance, the question of wether or not there may be legal abortions, would be entirely up to women.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

1. No-We Are All Humans

~

[Recursion]

2. I want there to be a council of elders...

...just because that sounds badass.

[baldguy]

3. That's what the Senate was supposed to be.

[Recursion]

11. Yeah but the name is crucial

I want the President before he signs a treaty to ominously say, "I must consult the Council of Elders"

[DawgHouse]

7. I think a Jedi Council would be more effective.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jedi_Council

[donsu]

4. good idea

nt

[JerseygirlCT]

5. Think about that

Do you see where it would go?

The "women's council" would be squelched into insignificance, while the men decided that every single question was pertinent to their authority.

I don't think this is a good idea.

Issues such as abortion aren't women's issues, they are human rights issues. What we need are more people, male and female, in the government who understand things like this.

[donsu]

8. abortion is a woman's business only - when men bleed monthly then

they can speak about abortion.

[JerseygirlCT]

9. We're never going to win the argument framing it that way

I absolutely agree that the individual woman is the ONLY person qualified to make such a decision. But when talking in gov't terms, we're not addressing this on that level.

What we need to do is make it clear what's at stake here: not whether life begins at conception (whatever that really means), but whether an individual (take the "woman" out of it) has the right to make private medical decisions about that individual's own body.

Framed that way, you'd find more men readily agreeing. Framed as a "women's issue", it's far too easy to dismiss it and to find it far too easy to hand over women's rights. After all, it's not going to affect them, right?

This is about individual rights, pure and simple. Women, like men, shouldn't have to beg for the right to bodily integrity.

[uppityperson]

6. No. Humans rights issues belong to humans, regardless of sex.

[JerseygirlCT]

10. Yes, I agree. nt