While I am happy to congratulate the Earl and Countess of Wessex on the birth of their son, let me add that I am appalled that this child will now be eighth in line to the throne, pushing the Princess Royal into tenth place. Let us forget the personalities involved for a moment. The archaic law that suggests that every woman should be pushed aside in favour of a man when it comes to ascending the throne is obscene. In 1998 I presented a Primogeniture Bill to the House of Lords which was granted its first and second reading, and at the request of the government (Baroness Jay) I withdrew my Bill on the understanding that the government would bring in its own Bill in the near future. They have not done so. My reasoning was simple. I believe that women are equal to men, if not superior, and when it comes to heads of state, I offer you Queen Elizabeth I, Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth II, with the cry I used in my speech to their Lordships - put up your men! The late Lord Charteris and Lord Blake cornered me in the corridor and offered me their different selections.
My next reason was the problem of Prince William, second in line to the throne, who, should he marry and his wife produce a daughter, she would automatically be tenth in line to the throne - madness; another daughter, and she would be eleventh in line to the throne, ridiculous. If they then produce a son, he would be heir to the throne - constitutional.
My purpose was to put this Bill through the House before Prince William marries, and as each year passes, his marriage clearly becomes a stronger possibility, so I am bound to say to my colleagues in the Lords, and particularly to the Government front bench, get on with it - unless of course you don't believe in equality.
My next reason was the problem of Prince William, second in line to the throne, who, should he marry and his wife produce a daughter, she would automatically be tenth in line to the throne - madness; another daughter, and she would be eleventh in line to the throne, ridiculous. If they then produce a son, he would be heir to the throne - constitutional.
My purpose was to put this Bill through the House before Prince William marries, and as each year passes, his marriage clearly becomes a stronger possibility, so I am bound to say to my colleagues in the Lords, and particularly to the Government front bench, get on with it - unless of course you don't believe in equality.
5 Comments:
I think every fair minded person would agree with you. Your mistake was to have trusted Labour to bring forward their own bill.
Will you try again as I think it is supported in the country.?
My Lord,
While I agree with you 100% percent on the issue of equality, do you think it's the *correct* place to start?
Where the Pricess Royal or someone of her stature will, say get in front by a couple of places when it comes to who is the next person in line for the throne, they don't have to think about their day to day lives in the monetary sense. Where as there are *plenty* of women whoose live's get affected in a more practical sense because of this in-equlity / discrimenation.
To Joe Blog, his wife, and his daughter, it is of little relevance whether person x or y is 10th to the throne or 7th, where as that *5p* increase in wages per hour to make this square for men and women means more. A lot more. The 5p was just an example I pulled out of thin air, not be to taken literally!!
I'd rather prefer a bottom-up approach to this issue than a top-down one.
Thanks for reading!!!
Regards,
Mahesh
I think you are right about this, there is a lot that is anomalous about our Royal family...
Although we claim to be a diverse and equal society, we are not. If you look at divorce law in this country it very sexist and weighty heavily against men.
It makes me ashamed of my own sex sometimes.
For example, my friend Mike, when he got divorced his wife got the house, a third of his pension and the two kids, he then became a weekend dad with no where to live and huge debts as a result of his legal bills.
I know of someone else, a reasonably young man who lives in bed and breakfast accommodation in Salford because he cannot afford to pay his child support money and have a property at the same time. Men do get a raw deal. I feel very sorry for them.
Well said, Jeffrey.
Equality is pretty hard to come by these days. I'm a civil servant myself - I assume that in this day & age my pay is the same as a man in my position who has been in the job for as long as I have, but well you never know.
I suppose the only thing that keeps me in the place were I work is the fact that it is flexible, which as a working mother, is extremely handy ( have always worked full-time even when child was small ) & the working conditions are better than in other places.
You presented your bill in 1998. But withdrew it as the Govt promised something in it's place "in the near future". Well 10 yrs later still nothing.
yasmin
in memory of Charlie Rocket / reason for suicide
http://www.myspace.com/132501307
2 jan 08
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