The Spanish ministry has suddenly shot to gender equality, and you know what that means, don’t you, Hoydenizens? It’s fashion week at the Telegraph!
The female Spanish and French ministers, individuality-free and named as appendages of the men in charge – the Zapettes and the Sarkozettes – are being held up as paragons of femme-drag virtue compared to Britain’s inadequately-sexy parliamentarians. The new ministry, apparently bereft of intellect, achievements, or personal histories, are lauded purely for being “glamorous”, “chic”, and “elegant”, in contrast to their UK equivalents, who are “frumpy”, “dowdy”, “overweight”, and not paying enough attention to their highlights and eyebrows.
The Telegraph’s Celia Walden flails inanely for a point, eventually settling on this inept fragment of style psychology:
There is, you see, something lacking in a professional woman who can’t or won’t dress well: it’s not just about aesthetics, it’s about discipline, self-respect, confidence and, ultimately, a capacity for enjoyment.
I look forward to next week’s article dissecting male politicians’ shoulderpads and moisturiser choices, and a detailed photo-essay showing us who dresses to the left and who to the right.
Italy’s PM got in on the action with his concerns about the pickle Zapatero has got himself into, appointing ovary-enhanced underlings who would obviously be uppity, fussy, and recalcitrant:
Spain and Italy were embroiled in a war of words on Wednesday after Silvio Berlusconi criticised his Spanish counterpart for appointing so many women to his cabinet.
In one of the first interviews after being elected Italy’s prime minister for the third time, Mr Berlusconi attacked Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero’s government, describing it as “too pink”.
Speaking about Mr Zapatero’s decision to give nine out of 17 cabinet positions to women, he said: “Now he’s asked for it. He’ll have problems leading them.”
I’ll leave you with a shot of the new Spanish defense minister, Charme Chacon:
“Here’s an image Spaniards will not soon forget: their new defense minister, reviewing trim, crisply uniformed soldiers, with her baby bump on display.” [source]
[hat tip to whooz_queen]
Finland got a majority female cabinet some time back (now 12/8 F/M by my count). I wonder what The Telegraph’s Celia Walden would say about Mauri Pekkarinen’s sense of aesthetics and body image, and any implication about his competence?
And Berlusconi’s country, by any measure of economics or human welfare, falls way behind Finland’s, so maybe…
Dave Bath’s last blog post..Grumpy old xkcd
I wasn’t aware of this, Tigtog – its fundamentally depressing to see just how retarded the media can be on such a basic question.
Btw, Zapatero is like, totally my hero n shit.
And Berlusconi – I’m sorry – did you say SPAIN might have problems keeping a government together?
BAHAHAAHAHAHA!
Lefty E’s last blog post..Portuguese Forts in Asia: Nailbiting Series Premiere
I wasn’t aware of it either, Lefty E, until Lauredhel posted it!
Doubtless Zapatero has his share of foibles like most other politicians, but I congratulate him on choosing a gender balanced Cabinet at least. I wonder how many Basques are in it?
On Hillary Clinton:
’cause that’s the important bit, isn’t it?
#3 Nowadays just a woman, the one on the left. There’re also many Catalonians. BTW Zapatero also won by far in the Basque Country (and Catalonia too) ;)
Greetings from Spain!
*waves a g’day to David*
thanks for the info – extra kudos to him for a broadbased mandate then
Cheers for the heads up, I wasn’t aware of this. We’ve just had a week of very important media debate as to whether the new PM’s wife (herself a very successful businesswoman in her own right) dresses well or whether her haircut is suitable for a “woman in her position”. It is utterly cringe-worthy.
Here are a couple of snippets:
Australia’s biggest selling newspaper
A summary from New Matilda
Kris’s last blog post..(My) Photo of the day
The Independent took a different spin on the photo above, asking a bunch of British pundits to imagine how life would be if women ruled the world. My favourite snippet?
I would so love to see the day when a blokey radio program would be described as “feisty”.
Ha – quixote just posted the picture of the Defence Minister reviewing the troops over at Shakesville, and the resident we’re-living-in-a-matriarchy troll complained about her not wearing a suit (y’know, all undignified and shit) while looking straight at that photo of her wearing a perfectly obvious matching suit jacket and dress pants!
So apparently flattering and comfortable maternity blouses turn trolls blind. Keep it in mind.