A re you a local mayor looking to upset all the single women in your town? Well, just take a leaf out of John Molony's book. He's the mayor of the Australian Outback community Mount Isa in North-West Queensland who has suggested that "beauty-disadvantaged" women should flock there, because the area's male miners and cowboys just aren't all that fussy. And, in the process, he has managed the considerable feat of enraging every townswoman who has been struggling in her search for love - as well as all the other local women besides.
To be fair, Molony probably didn't mean to annoy anyone; the comments he made to a local newspaper, the Townsville Bulletin, are characterised more by naivety than nastiness. Quite often you will see walking down the street a lass who is not so attractive with a wide smile on her face. Whether it is a recollection of something previous, or anticipation for the next evening, there is a degree of happiness Isn't there a fairytale about an ugly duckling that evolves into a beautiful swan? There certainly is.
So what was so offensive about Molony's comments that he has complained of being "shredded" and gone into hiding? Well, first, there's a point of accuracy. Far from there being five men for every woman in Mount Isa, the most recent census found that men make up Then there's the mayor's suggestion that he regularly sees smiling but ugly women wandering all over town, which was never likely to be a vote-winner among his female populace.
And, finally, there's the overall implication that the men in Mount Isa are great catches, a suggestion that the town's single women have been quick to rebut. And while this gender warfare rages in a small corner of Queensland, it has reopened a much bigger question: is Australia an especially sexist country?
In isolation, of course, the mayor's comments can be taken with a pinch of salt, but coming on the same day as a major report which showed that women who take maternity leave are much less likely to be promoted in Australia's public service than those without children, they have reopened a longstanding debate about Australian society. Is it a place where the men are men and the "Sheilas" are treated about as well as the prawns being slung on the barbie? Or is that just a hoary old myth?
