To the continuing shame of our socalled democracy, the radical Christian party SGP for over ninety years has been allowed to discriminate against roughly half the Dutch population: women. Though not so radical as to believe women should not vote, they do believe no women should be part of a political party or seek any sort of office; women therefore can only become members without voting rights of the SGP and even that is a concession made only recently. In the absence of political or state pressure to change this, various lawsuits have winded their way through court and this week the case reached the highest court in the land, who decided that the SGP was acting illegally:
The court, weighing the fundamental freedoms of religion, expression and association, judged that the SGP should allow women to be election candidates. It is the duty of the state to take action against men-only candidatures, the Supreme Court stated. A party cannot refer to its philosophical principles by way of defence, the judges said. “Under democratic rule of law, political principles and programmes can only be executed within the limits set by laws and treaties.” The SGP was found to distinguish men and women in a manner that is in contravention of a United Nations treaty. This implies that the Dutch state will have to take measures to ensure that the party allows women to put themselves forward as candidates. The orthodox group does allow women to be members, but leading positions are reserved for men.
It’s not before time.