Jamaica’s female parliamentarians are punch-drunk with women empowerment. 

It is why our women senators and members of parliament are unable to discern just how inappropriate and unlawful it is to form a committee of parliament reserved exclusively for females, with access denied to all males based solely on the gender they were born with.

Discrimination against men has become so normalised that men are being openly marginalised in Jamaica’s very seat of power. Our female senators and MPs on both sides have conspired to form, not a cabal, but an official, permanent committee of only women in our hallowed House of Representatives. 

MORRIS CAREFULLY CLOTHES OBJECTIONS

The purpose of the women-only caucus is ostensibly to fight for the rights of their gender, which is a fight already long won and any past wrongdoing overcompensated for through feminism.

The recent Senate debate around the matter was drama-filled.

Because women are above criticism in today’s world, Senator Floyd Morris had to dig deep to muster the cojones to openly object to the caucus, and even so, his objections had to be carefully clothed in torrents of praise to the fine attributes of females.

He declared: “Because of their diligence, dedication and strength, women have become the backbone of the Jamaican society.”

He has a point, and it is precisely because women are now the backbone of Western societies why there is no need for modern women to keep on battling, unless the aim is female domination and rule.  

It is apparently not opprobrious for our females in parliament to openly discriminate against men, but the mere objection by Senator Morris was an outrageous transgression, for Senator Natalie Campbell Rodriques blasted him, saying, “what is a red flag is when a man objects to women gathering and having discussions as we see necessary”. 

So males should never object to what females do, because anything women do must be accepted by men as inherently legitimate. Senator Morris had to be at pains to express that his objecting was not because he hated women.

“Mi nuh have nutten against women,” he bleated, cognizant that male criticism of women is widely seen as misogyny. Of course, women are always free to openly berate, verbally abuse and chastise males without any blowback whatsoever.

Any thought of forming an all-male caucus of parliament would be roundly condemned.

Men have been censored and silenced by feminism, and have generally ceded social control to their opposite gender, so there was nary a whisper out of the gelded men of the Senate who form the majority.

Only Senator Damion Crawford attempted to restore a level of sanity, and even Senator Crawford dared not forthrightly challenge the ladies. He had to gingerly dress his arguments in the raiment of the House rules, for he knew he was stepping into a treacherous minefield. Before long, Senator Crawford quickly retreated behind the wall of “gender equality,” saying that, “Gender equality is going to come from cooperation and collaboration between male and female (being) willing to give and take”.

Being extraordinarily cerebral and being a Mathematician himself, Senator Damion Crawford ought to know that there is not, and never will be, any such thing as gender equality. Simply put, equality is a mathematical principle, which translates to being the same. So that two is equal to two and three is equal to three. Men and women are not the same, neither in general society or in the House and Senate.

Senator Morris should endeavour to enlist in the all-female caucus, and when he is denied based on his gender, he should initiate gender discrimination constitutional proceedings to have it disbanded. Don’t hold your breath.

• Milton Wray is a multi-award-winning journalist and also a businessman. Email feedback to: [email protected]