In which the pond insists on a decent quota of Dame Slap thinking ...

Whoa, Neddy, whoa …

The pond has already supped to the full on prattling Polonius this weekend, and in his usual patented way, the Polonial pedant got it wrong.

That should have read "It's fashionable in these #MeToo times for women to defend other women, scribbles prattling Polonius. But the lizards of Oz and Dame Slap has taken an exception…"

Never mind the grammar or the grandma, is there a Dame Slap in the house?

Is there any better way to prepare for Mother's Day than to have Dame Slap warn the world of 'golden skirt' syndrome?

Please, have at the upstart, impudent hussies ...

Indeed, there are too many women everywhere, though the pond finds it unseemly that some are questioning the possible consequences of having Dame Slap as a columnist, lacking as she does the requisite skills to write anything useful or insightful … except perhaps to don a MAGA cap and warn the world that climate science is being used by the UN as a way of preparing for world government (peace be unto sort of Lordish Monckton).

But there's nothing like a little 'woman on woman' action to excite the average Oz reptile - or so the pond has observed in the old days of Oxford hotel jelly wrestling - so please step back and watch in awe as Dame Slap shows her grappling skills ...

Indeed, indeed, women are inclined to be entirely useless, and when the pond is challenged on this, it routinely cites Dame Slap as a columnist …

Let's face it, there could be a man filling her column space right now. Is it fair that he be denied the chance to mouth off so that she can keep rabbiting on?

And now, while there are pragmatic and selfish reasons for the pond to want Dame Slap to keep scribbling - how else would the pond manage to enjoy life to the full? - the Dame is about to speak of Norway's golden skirts, and so it felt the need to skim the full to overflowing intertubes for a nanosecond and came across this in the Graudian back in July 2011 …

Women Matter 2010, a report by management consultancy McKinsey, suggested that companies with gender-balanced executive boardrooms are 56% more profitable than all-male boards. So Norway, in theory, has not only struck a blow for sex equality, it has encouraged better management. 
Or it might have done had the quota created more female managers. In fact, most golden skirts are non-executive directors. But Elin Hurvenes, head of the Professional Boards Forum in Oslo – which puts appointment committees in contact with talented women – suggests that this is about to change.  "Before the quota there were all these women who were banging their heads against a glass ceiling and suddenly they are being offered all of these non-executive roles," she says. "But now headhunters are starting to look to the boards and pick up women for executive jobs." The phenomenon is a powerful defence of Norway's quota against critics who highlight the discrepancy between women's 42% board representation and their single-digit share of executive positions.

Of course there's oodles more, and even The Economist felt the need to chip in here …

That is not to say quotas are now uncontroversial. Whether you think robust measures to increase the share of women in senior management are a good thing in the first place depends partly on how convinced you are that diversity in management is important. It might improve performance by mirroring the diversity of customers—or, as our Schumpeter columnist recently argued (though about cultural rather than gender diversity), it might increase conflict, worsen communication and reduce workplace trust. Easier to dismiss is the still-common objection that quotas are anti-meritocratic: that is more true of the status quo. Oodles of research demonstrates that women are evaluated less positively than identically qualified men when applying for stereotypically male jobs, such as leadership roles. One study found that a commitment by hiring committees to shortlists with at least 25% women helped to remove anti-woman bias.

But enough of that, because the pond must now comfort Dame Slap, who never really had the skill set to become a barrister and had to settle for savaging people in the courtroom of lizard opinion ...

Indeed, indeed, and let's not forget that Dame Slap enjoyed her own quota of one way back when, and there were dreadful people at the time who were appalled by the quota system …

The Friends of the ABC is less confident in the appointment than Minister Coonan, with spokesperson Glenys Stradijot telling radioinfo: “The Government has demonstrated its disdain for the national broadcaster by appointing one of the ABC’s most strident critics… It appears the Government’s criteria for appointment to the ABC Board is opposition to the broadcaster’s healthy operation… The Government is abusing its responsibility to the community by stacking the board of the national broadcaster with political sympathisers.” 

Shadow Communications Minister Stephen Conroy says the appointment continues the Government's policy of “stacking the ABC with its political mates.” “John Howard seems to regard the ABC Board as a private club, with memberships to be handed out to his supporters as a reward. The Government's practice of appointing strident coalition supporters to the ABC Board undermines public confidence in the independence of the national broadcaster,” says Conroy. 

 Labor believes that there should be an open and transparent process for making appointments to the ABC board. (wonky old site, cache only here)

Damn you quotas, damn you for the way you work …fancy little Johnny taking it into his head to provide a quota for one simply on the basis of being a theologically rigorous political fundamentalist or the ratbag right kind ...

And now what better way to celebrate the way the system works than with the Lobbecke which showed Dame Slap in one of her finest moments on the streets of New York ...