A man has been pressured into resigning from his role as a women's officer at a university student union after public pressure and an online petition demanded that he step down from the position. James Ritchie was voted into the job at the Tasmanian University Union with a clear majority over a female candidate more than three weeks ago. Despite his qualifications for the role and no gender specified in the job description, the reaction to a male being offered the position caused huge opposition which left Mr Ritchie feeling that the negativity impacted on him being able to do the job to the best of his ability. James Ritchie was forced to resign from his role as women's officer for the Tasmanian University Union after public pressure and an online petition opposed the decision to employ a male for the job . 'There has been a lot of public pressure for me to resign, a lot of interest groups that want me to resign,' Mr Ritchie told ABC radio. 'But the main thing for me was I felt my ability to be effective in the role was now diminished and that's the most fundamental thing.' The university's Women's Collective had launched a petition on the website change.org to have Mr Ritchie removed from his role in the TUU. The petition said Mr Ritchie 'was elected to the role of women's officer unconstitutionally and unethically and yet the TUU staff refuses to disqualify his candidacy'. However, TUU guidelines did not state a preferred gender for the role, saying only that 'an interest in higher education and student issues would be advantageous'. The university's student union has now introduced a requirement that candidates sign a statutory declaration confirming they identify as female . The state's anti-discrimination commissioner, Robin Banks, also said there was no legal reason why a man could not occupy the role of women's officer. 'In my opinion, it's irrelevant if (the position is) held by a female or a male. In this election I believe I was the best person for the role,' Mr Ritchie said. 'If you can't get a society where women feel they can approach men about a number of issues and men feel they can approach women about a number of issues, how do you really make progress?' The student union has now introduced a requirement that candidates sign a statutory declaration confirming they identify as female.
James Ritchie was voted into the job at the Tasmanian University Union with a clear majority over a female candidate more than three weeks ago . Mounting public pressure and an online petition forced him to resign . No gender was specified in the union's job description guidelines . But the union has now introduced that the applicant must be a female .