Women's Issues: New Zealand councillor gets her knickers in a twist

This falls into the "Give Me Strength," category, or possibly even,"Beam me Up Scottie".

The New Zealand Herald reports that Ms Sandra Coney, an Auckland Regional Councillor and died-in-the-wool feminist, has been enraged by a cartoon bird - the mascot of Auckland public transport.

What caused Ms. Coney to get her knickers in a twist? An ad in which the feathered mascot tells radio listeners that he was catching an express bus as he had heard, "there were some nice birds in town".

Shock - horror!

Mizz Coney claims "I was protesting in 1971 in the women's movement and thought we would have got past sexist comments to sell products". She went on to say, "I imagine a lot of women use buses".

A lot of women also have a sense of humour too, something I know for a fact which negates the need to use the word "imagine" to qualify my remarks.


A few points to note here:

* She didn't at first realise the character was himself a bird.
* The ad was vetted by a communications and marketing team, who were all professional young women.
* The ad was devised by a female.

Yes, she has done a lot of good work in the area of women's health, especially menopause - but for crying out loud - lighten up a bit. It is hysterical, knee jerk reactions like this, that damage the credibility of the feminist movement - or indeed, any other movement.