Female politicians highlight struggle to get on ballot

SENIOR female politicians have pointed to internal constituency battles as a bigger obstacle to gender equality than winning votes on polling day.

Labour’s Joan Burton said the shortage of women elected to the Oireachtas owes a lot to problems faced by perspective candidates at a local level.

“I think it is something people who work in Leinster House lose sight of — the enormous battle women face just to get on the ballot in constituencies,” she said.

She was backed up by deputies Mary O’Rourke and Mary White and Senator Frances Fitzgerald.

“Don’t talk to me about those battles,” said Ms O’Rourke who has represented half of one of Fianna Fáil’s most fractious internal constituency spats in her struggle with Senator Donie Cassidy to win a seat in Longford/Westmeath.

Ms Burton said young women with an interest in politics needed help to negotiate hurdles in the early stages of their careers.

The panel of high-profile female politicians had joined Senator Ivana Bacik to announce special plans to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the election of Constance Markiewicz.

Ms Bacik has organised a gathering of 37 women who have served in the Oireachtas since 1956. Together they will attend a ceremony in Leinster House next Tuesday.

This will accompany a group photo in the Dáil to highlight the failure to reach gender parity in politics.

“For once the Dáil will be decently full with women. But of course it is just make-believe because in reality we don’t have that many,” Ms O’Rourke said.

Ms Fitzgerald said in the last election the failure of all politics parties to secure seats for female politicians had seen the country slip 50 places on a worldwide league table of gender equality in public office.