School selects two male captains as female candidates judged not good enough

A Western Australian public school is under fire for its decision to appoint two boys as student leaders because no female student was considered to be up to the job.

Typically, most co-educational schools have one male and one female as their head prefects but Woodvale Secondary College has broken with tradition

It was a decision based solely on merit and not gender according to Principal Lea Fairfoul-Hutcheon.

“The head prefects for 2017 were selected through a nomination and merit selection process and our strongest applicants were two males, which is why they were appointed,” she told the West Australian.

“I think people would absolutely expect us to select the two candidates who are most suitable for the role — regardless of their gender.

"We have a total of 24 prefects at the school from Years 7-12, 16 of whom are females, not that it matters because they were offered these leadership positions on their merits — and they are all doing a fantastic job.”

The announcement of the decision happens to fall on International Women’s Day and a day after Melbourne installed 10 female shaped pedestrian crossing lights.

• 'Males take their kids to school too': Petition for gender equal road crossing signs

• 'Political correctness gone mad': Critics seeing red over push for female walking signals

Speaking ahead of International Women’s Day today, CEOs for Gender Equity chairman Chris Sutherland said the decision "doesn't make sense".

“I would question the way they are making those judgments,” he said.

“I think it doesn’t make sense that you would appoint two male heads.

“Merit is a very subjective method. Most organisations say they promote on merit and yet the majority of key roles in nearly all organisations are men, which suggests that something is amiss in the process.”