Nanny state meets the matriarchy

And when will we reach peak woman? In France they have seen this problem coming. Perhaps they are more numerate than us.

In 2013 they passed the Sauvadet Law which mandated that no more than 60% of appointments to senior positions in French public institutions could be of any gender.

In 2018 the City of Paris breached this law appointing 69% of women to senior positions and was fined. Rather than obey the law the Mayor decided to pay the fine and double down on her position.

This points to a troubling undercurrent. Female emancipation originally arose as a rebellion against the patriarchy in favour of equality of the sexes, but now it has overreached that position.

For many modern feminists equality is not the end game, dominance is. So we move from patriarchy, to matriarchy, or maybe something even worse. How many of this new breed of dominant woman is a matron? Perhaps this is something even more novel – the rise of the Feminarchy.

Whatever it is, and whatever you call it, it's not in Sussan Ley's interests to play that game. It leads to absurd conclusions and will inevitably lead to an opposite and more than equal reaction.

As a political leader her job is to run to where the ball will be, which means defending merit, standing up to fashionable nonsense, and rebuilding a coalition of voters - men and women alike - who seek competence, not meaningless balance.