THE LABOUR Party is reported to be acutely embarrassed today by the industrial tribunal ruling that its policy of selecting parliamentary candidates in certain seats from women-only short-lists is sexist and unlawful.

But is it really so discomfited?

For one suspects that New Labour, eager to shed old Labour's vote-losing apparel of nannyish political correctness - with which this policy was tainted - will be glad that it has been knocked externally on the head.

That, after all, is evidenced by leader Tony Blair's insistence that this rule, which he inherited, would only apply for the current parliament anyway.

However, though the now-illegal quota scheme - which has so far led to 34 women being selected as prospective Labour MPs - was always a difficult-to-justify encumbrance, we do not think that its supporters have to apologise for its basic intent.

For, quite simply, it addressed the evident wrong of parliament being so unrepresentative of the general population in that it has so few women members.

The mistake, however, was to apply to this noble cause the dangerous remedy of positive discrimination - which, when shorn of its high-minded intent, attempts to use unfairness to achieve justice.

In such cases, there are always aggrieved victims and annoyed observers.

And in this instance this was the upshot of men actually being prevented from standing in dozens of parliamentary seats.

The acute irony is, of course, that in seeking to achieve greater equality for women, Labour has been undone by those equality laws aimed against sexual discrimination in employment and the challenge to that aim was backed by the Equal Opportunities Commission.

And all of those aspects might normally have the blessing of the party's politically-correct wing.

However, if women feel that the worthy cause of getting more of their sex into parliament has been set back by this ruling, they and Labour would be unwise to seek to get the tribunal's decision reversed.

For that would mean they declare their support for positive discrimination in the face of clear opposition to it among the electorate.

The real solution is in the hands of women themselves - that of addressing the issue of the male domination of politics through more women taking an active role in it.

It may be that the root causes of this imbalance are historical, but women need to consider whether too much apathy and deference on the part of members of their sex are also responsible for them being in the minority at Westminster and in all the main political parties.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.