新西兰英语 803 No ‘man ban’ for Labour

 　　The Labour Party will not ban men from becoming candidates for election in some seats. The Labour Council wants to discuss the idea during the Labour Party conference in November of having 50% women MPs. However, David Shearer¹, the leader of the Labour Party in Parliament says it is not a good idea to say that only women can be a candidate in some seats. Instead he wants the Labour Party to aim for 45% women in the next election in 2014, and 50% women by 2017.

　　At the moment, there are 40 women MPs out of 121 MPs in Parliament. National has 15 women out of 58 MPs. While the top four National MPs are men, 7 of these women are Cabinet Ministers (There are 25 Ministers).

　　Labour has 13 women (41% of all Labour MPs) and the Green Party has 8 women and 6 men. The Maori Party has one woman and New Zealand First has 3 women.

　　Questions

　　1.Should there be more women MPs? Why or why not?

　　2.Should there be more people from ethnic² minorities in Parliament?

　　3.Is it a good idea to have quotas⁴ e.g. 50% women, 20% Asian, 20% Maori etc?

　　4.If there is not a quota³ for women, what other ways can the Labour Party increase the number of women in Parliament?

　　5.How can more people from ethnic minorities be encouraged to become MPs?

　　Vocabulary

　　?ban – stop, not allow

　　?candidate – want to be an MP; put their name on the voting paper

　　?a seat in Parliament – an electorate⁵, an area which the candidate represents

　　?to aim for – this is a goal, they will try to do this

　　?Cabinet Ministers e.g. Minister of Education, Minister of Immigration

　　?Other words for gender quota: reverse discrimination, affirmative action

1 shearer   

n.剪羊毛的人；剪切机

参考例句：

• A bad shearer never had a good sickle. 拙匠无利器。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Eventually, Shearer lost faith, dropping him to the bench. 最终，希勒不再信任他，把他换下场。 来自互联网

2 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

3 quota   

n.（生产、进出口等的）配额，（移民的）限额

参考例句：

• A restricted import quota was set for meat products.肉类产品设定了进口配额。
• He overfulfilled his production quota for two months running.他一连两个月超额完成生产指标。

4 quotas   

（正式限定的）定量( quota的名词复数 )； 定额； 指标； 摊派

参考例句：

• In fulfilling the production quotas, John made rings round all his fellow workers. 约翰完成生产定额大大超过他的同事们。
• Quotas of the means of production are allocated by the higher administrative bodies to the lower ones. 物资指标按隶属关系分配。

5 electorate   

n.全体选民；选区

参考例句：

• The government was responsible to the electorate.政府对全体选民负责。
• He has the backing of almost a quarter of the electorate.他得到了几乎1/4选民的支持。