The BBC has decided to celebrate women’s rights by showing one episode of Question Time with a female-only audience.
The episode from Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, will air on March 11 and will follow the politics show’s usual format with questions from the audience on topical subjects, the BBC said.
Ceri Goddard, chief executive of gender equality organisation The Fawcett Society, has said in an article written for the Guardian: ‘The decision should be commended for many reasons. The show will give ordinary women, whose all-important vote the parties have been falling over themselves to court, the chance to question if there’s any policy behind their “female-friendly” spin.’
She commented: ‘Because both female and male politicians need to be held to account by women, I also think it’s right that men will be on the panel tonight.’
But some have argued the all-women audience goes against Question Time’s usual process of selecting an audience to ensure a wide cross-section of British society.
The application form does not usually ask for the sex of potential audience members, but does request details such as name, address, political allegiance, racial group and occupation.
Applicants are asked what issues they would like to talk about and their views on the war in Iraq and on whether they are pro-Europe or not. The BBC says the information allows it to invite a balanced variety of people.
Others have questioned whether women should be treated as a special interest group.
Despite the emphasis on representing only women in the audience, the first confirmed panellist for the special edition of Question Time is a man – gardening expert Monty Don.
The issue has prompted many Twitter uses to post their own views. Here is a selection:
@Vernski finds idea of all-woman audience for #bbcqt v odd, thought bbc supposed to be unifying force, hope all working-class audience next week
@TheLedge80 its one show, who cares? its not every week is it. It’s about time they did something different from the usual format
@markinreading Found some really nice matchsticks to insert under my nails from 10:35 when otherwise I would have been watching #bbcqt
@jpufky2008 Women only #bbcqt tonight, def one to watch
What do you think? Answer our poll (to the right).
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