Man-Hatred in the Toronto Star

Here's a incredibly stupid story in the Toronto Star.

Amid the large, sprawling cast of the federal Liberals' sponsorship saga, one group is hugely underrepresented — women.

In fact, some people are arguing that this whole sorry tale of public-trust abuse in Canada could become Exhibit A in arguing the case for more women's involvement in politics.

Certainly, it's become a subject that some women in the Liberal party are starting to discuss.

Françoise Boivin, a rookie MP from Quebec and chair of the Liberal women's caucus, said it just struck her yesterday, with some force, in fact. Apart from a prime ministerial niece here, an assistant or two there, the whole story of alleged kickbacks and corruption among advertising firms and the Quebec Liberal party is a tale about men, by men.

"It has to make you think," Boivin said. "Why is it? Maybe we're more grounded ... maybe we don't see politics so much as a game ... But we do do politics differently."

Another senior Liberal woman, who preferred to speak off the record, joked yesterday that the wrong demographic groups have become targets of scorn in the scandal. "It's not Quebec. It's not the Italians," she said. "It's men."

No wonder that liberal woman won't go on the record with her hatred.

Women want it both ways - when they're under-represented in positive things, it's because of discrimination. When they're under-represented in something nasty, it's because they're better.