James Bradley, the ills you mention are more to do with the politcs of the Left than having female input.

Peter, St Albans, UK

Are they any good or is it just tokenism? It is ridiculous to choose people on any other basis than probable competence unless they are actors, sportsmen, etc.

R Mason, R Mason, UK

Yes, we need more women in the cabinet.

And...taking Italy's Vladimir Luxuria as an example; we also need more transgendered, lesbian, gay and bi MPs out of the closet.

http://www.morethan2genders.com/page2.htm

Katie, Cardiff , Wales, UK

Yes, chosen by "Merit and Skill". But if men are only half the population, how can there be four times more of them in the government than women? And the same for MPs. Do UK women have four times less merit and skill than UK men? If you think so, you have a problem.

(btw, the women in the new Zapatero cabinet have great curriculums, perhaps even better than men's - promoting sex equality is compatible with merit)

Alejandro, Leon, Spain

You want the sex mix of Parliament to be representative? Reserve 50% of the seats for women and the other 50% for men. Rationalise the constituencies to be on average larger, and give voter two votes, one to be cast for a man and one for a woman. Each member would have been elected by the same electorate on the same basis.

It would be fairer than expecting decisions made by constituency parties and then by voters (which must currently necessarily be for a single candidate or member respectively) to average out to 50% of each sex.

Maybe a new House of Lords election could be used as a trial run to see if it works.

James, Hong Kong, China

@Noa Martinez hahah funny to see spaniards like you whining here. If i had to choose between a politician man or woman, i would choose the later. I really don't know why, but i feel it's easier to trust them (and i'm a man!). Zapatero has done well and i hope others will follow him.

Jorge, Madrid, Spain

Does it really matter? Male or female, man or woman, shouldn't a politician be judged against their merits, beliefs and decisions? If we held our politicians up as the moral authorities that they claim to be, and removed those who were below the standard expected, I suspect that a fair ethnic and gender mix would not be the problem. Refilling the benches would be the first priority!

Chris, Portsmouth,

"Can you imagine a woman with the girth, ears and general scruffiness of Charles Clarke hacking it in the House of Commons?"

Yes. Have you already forgotten Ann Widdecombe?

Jay, London,

George Byers,

We might have had 200 years of war but we won an awful lot of them and no-one took liberties with Great Britain as they do today - they knew full well what the response would be! We need a strong national defence whether the Government is predominantly men or women.

Also, what happened to the best person for the job? Who really cares if the leader or leadership team are men or women as long as the needs of the country are put first? Unfortunately this does not seem to be the case right now and I can only hope for a change in the future. Whether that is a change of party or a change of attitude is a moot point!

Eddie Falco, Oxford, England

I would have thought "women" have far more important things to do than "run the country".
Next thing you will be telling us is that politicans are important.

Peter Bolt, Redditch, UK

We do need more women in politics but of course they should be good at what they do. Mind you, I don't think men have to prove themselves of their worth as much as women do. If a girl is even slightly incompetent in politics she is brushed off. We're more willing to accept a man who still a bumbling idiot and idiotic rather than a women with the same traits. But this talk of saying that women should be different than men in politics, that for instance, they don't answer Paxmans questions on Newnight; men do exactly the same thing. I don't know exactly what people expect from us other than to do the same job as everybody else but with the perspective of a women. It's patronising to except us to be 'different' on the political scene, what exactly do we mean by 'a female perspective?', its hardly defined. And the talk of low women, do you see any firm female political role models in the UK? Most women I know don't want to know about politcs, they'd rather read Heat magazine.

Sarah , Northern Ireland,

I think that Ronald Dworkin described perfectly that equality of opportunity is ideal - not equality.

I vote and work for an incredible female MP who was elected on merit, not to fulfill a quota.

Sarah, London,

It dependes on the quality of the women...

Do we really want more like Hariet Harman, Clare Short, Tessa Jowell, Patricia Hewitt, Jacqui Smith, Hazel Blears, Ruth Kelly??

Utterly spineless new labour mouthpieces to a woman.

Perhaps a woman in charge might make a difference?

Giles, Kent, UK

Excusing the point about the fall of Britain since women got the vote, which is absurd but amusing, there may be case to argue that a 'more tolerant and liberal' society is actually not all that great. Britain can ill afford to become any more liberal than it already is, and as for tolerance...Im of the view that chavs who set fire to cars in order to ambush firefighters should be ritually whipped - but as we're now so 'tolerant' they dont even get imprisoned cos they're too young.

I have no issue with having more women in the cabinet, I agree that they shouldnt be prevented from working in politics by discrimination - but if more women means more 'tolerance' then this country will fall apart. Its already coming down around us. We need to be harder on societies failings, not softer.

Also, I still dont agree with positive discrimination - women should earn political right, and not have it given to them. 50% of voters are women, so discrimination shouldnt be a problem right?

Chris, Newcastle,

Peter Jackson Well done, for spotting the obvious. Weak individuals are in Politics today that is why the State is taking over. When would you ever have heard Churchill state that he had to bring some law in because the Police told him. We have a home secretary frightened to go out at night. demanding that innocent men be locked up for 48 days. These people aren't our leaders they are just a front for them.

Mark, Gateshead, Tyne Wear

Zapatero likes to fill quotas and be top on statistics,there are women M.PS's in government because he wants to fill the quota not because of their merits. Some of those M.P's he decided to put on government are totally incapable, incompetent and have no language skills whatsoever to defend themselves on an international scene. We have for example a minister of equality who used to be an MP for Cadiz. Spain! The latinamerica of Europe.

Noa Martinez, Pontevedra, Galicia

They cannot make a bigger mess of it than the men did. 2000 years of war, all lead by men in government, military and the church. Give women a chance to try and do it a bit differently.

George Byers, Stonehaven,

Tony's yes women, The Blair Babes, were an embarassment to women and to Britain. Does Ms Sieghart think the last 10 years are something to be proud of?

The focus on appearance, spin, and soundbite politics are representative of politicians attempts to woo female voters - female voters who are the first to complain about their MPs haircut being out of style.

Spain and Italy as political role models? Go girl!

Peter Jackson, London, England

I disagree with you, Mary-Ann. Attempting to enforce quotas to ensure that the cabinet - or indeed any loose grouping of people, such as a business - conforms to the national demographic profile, is plain wrong. Merit is all that counts. But we need to ensure that everyone has an equal chance of attaining any such position.

It may indeed be tougher for women - not because they have to prove that their brains are of greater value than their looks, but because of simple biology. They give birth and are more naturally attuned to childcare than men. This means that if they want a serious career, they will always have to deal with conflicting pressures.

As for expectations that they must look attractive, I think that pressure comes more from women than men. More often than not, women dress for women, not for men. Women are much more critical about each other's attire than men are; we're just unreconstructed neanderthals who are suckers for a pretty face. And that will never change.

Philip, Bath,

James Bradley of Southampton.

It may just be my feeble female brain going all pink and fluffy, but wasn't the British empire more or less created and run by QUEEN VICTORIA?

Now i really must get back to the kitchen before my tiny lady brain overheats with all this historic thinking.

Katy, London, UK

I maintain that there are not two sexes/genders as is generally assumed but four: 1) Men who are both biologically and psychologically/mentally men. 2) Men who are biologically men but mentally/psychologically women. 3) Women who are biologically women but mentally/psychologically men and 4) Women who are biologically and mentally/psychologically women.
e.g Margaret Thatcherthe Iron Lady) would be in category 3. A fair few of the Sgts. Major I
encountered in the army would fall into category 2. My mother was in category 4. I am in category 1.
The ability to naturally concieve and suckle young is quite compatible with a masculine temperament and the reverse to inseminating males. In fact many fathers make admirable mothers and should be encouraged to do so.
This letter is the observation of 79 years experience.

John DEAN, Perth, Western Australia, Australia

I can't believe The Times has fallen for this. I am Spanish and, though I haven't contributed to helping Zapatero stay in office for an undeserved second term, I can assure you all I care about when it comes to ministers and policy makers are the results of their actions. And surely not whether the incumbent wears trousers or a skirt.

Alex Reina, Madrid,

"Increasing women's participation in politics isn't a matter of political correctness ...It is a basic tenet of representative democracy that a parliament should at least roughly represent the people who elect it." WRONG. Representative democracy is intended to reflect the majority of voters' BELIEFS AND VALUES, not their gender or race. MPs should be elected on the basis of MERIT and SKILL, not gender or race, in a FAIR competition in which women are not disadvantaged nor given priority because of their gender.

Ms Sieghart - and the rest of the media - would do better to indicate respect for women by referring to them in their articles as women and not as "females" which denigrates them as animals. And to those who say humans are simply evolved animals, I say that the human mind distinguishes humans from animals and that distinction should be universally acknowledged for men, women and children.

SMITH, kent,

Wow. James Bradley - I'm writing a paper on women and their attainment of suffrage and I am astonished at what you say- I wonder if you have stepped out of the 1867 debates? What absolute nonsense that women make things fall apart. Considering the majority of politicians are male, surely they should take the majority of the blame? The Empire which you speak of so strongly was expanded under two extremely strong queens: Victoria and Elizabeth. You seem to have pin pointed the date of female enfranchisement for the start of the rot: 1918. Interestingly this was the date of universal enfranchisement for men. Surely it could be as easily argued that it was all men having the vote that meant the root set it? Both links are as unfounded and unproven. Great Empires fall. That's simply the progression of time. Causes are varied and largely economic based. For example the Roman Empire fell with no real influence from women.
Blaming your political dissatisfaction on women is frankly absurd.

Heather Murphy, Cambridge, England

Politics like everything that women get involved in becomes to touchy feely. The rest of the male dominated world laughs at us.
Have you noticed that as soon as women got the vote, Great Britain started to fall apart. We started to become soft and the rot set in. Then we began losing our colonise, etc etc. Now here we are 80 odd yrs later and we dont have a proper army, navy or airforce, we are over run by foreigners and general riff raff from around the world and our country is now basically run by the media (browns government are just puppets) which is left wing and saturated with females. It has got so bad that we now do as the European tell us, instead of the reverse. Us white males are ashamed of our once great country which our forefathers created and kept free using their blood sweat and skill.
PS women are supposed to do the absolutely vital job of producing the next generation. They now fail miserably at this. Each woman on average can bearly manage to produce 1.5 kids!

James Bradley, Southampton,

you fail to mention a little place, Scotland, which has one of the most gender-balanced parliaments in the world.

I actually wrote about this in my university finals today as well as describing other features of 'new politics' in Scotland that leaves Westminster a few centuries behind us.

Pete MacLeod, Glasgow,

I'm very much disappointed with our women MPs. I thought they would bring a more caring and less reckless sense to the House of Commons. Yet, for example, New Labour with all its women MPs voted to go to war in Iraq. Listening to them on Newsnight, rarely do they actually answer Jeremy Paxman's probing questions, but instead spout the party line, even when asked the second and the third times the question put to them. They seem instead to want to ape their male colleagues and even outdo them by so stubbornly evading the actual question. Few seem to have a mind of their own. They seem to dress alike and sound alike. No wonder there is apathy among the electorate. No wonder there seems little political debate. No wonder people feel disenfranchised.

Dick, Durham, UK

I'm with John Prescot. What the Labour party needs is more birds.

E Skelton, Cardiff, Wales