New quotas cause criticism: SP Zurich argues about the proportion of men

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Who’s in charge? This question has always preoccupied politicians – and in particular the SP, which sees itself as a party for equality.

At its last party congress on Tuesday, the SP Zurich decided to abolish the women’s quota on its electoral lists and shorten the party’s equality article. She is no longer committed to “gender equality” as before, but instead to the “elimination of structural discrimination”. The “NZZ” reports this in its latest issue. This should include people who identify as neither male nor female.

Juso wanted an upper limit for men

But this step was not enough, especially for the young socialists. Juso probably feared that the men would take up too much space again. That is why the Zurich Jusos demanded in all committees and on all SP lists an explicit upper limit of 50 percent for so-called cis men – men who identify with the sex attributed from the outside.

But that was too strict for the SP management under co-chairman Priska Seiler Graf (54). It was then agreed that in the future at least half of the SP would be represented by so-called Finta people. Finta stands for women, intersex people, non-binary people, transgender people and so-called agender people, ie people who feel explicitly genderless.

However, this rule also caused controversy. Particularly in rural areas, there is a fear that they will not be able to meet this requirement.

Exception for rural areas

At the party conference, Philipp Flach, chairman of the Bülach district party, pointed out that the world was “a little different” outside the big cities. The new rules could become a problem for the party with a municipal parliament, he said. For example, the section of the agglomeration municipality of Opfikon has only 36 members, but 36 places on the list must be filled.

In other words, the SP sections that have to fill out an election list for the local parliament can’t be that picky, because they simply don’t have enough staff to do it.

The SP members showed understanding for Bülach’s objection. The majority of those present spoke in favor of a special arrangement for the rural communities of Zurich: in elections to the municipal parliament, they only have to meet the quotas for the front, promising list places. A male majority may fill the list at the bottom. (she)

Source:Blick