A woman’s place - Women still sidelined by politics

IT is entirely appropriate that on the day a parliament, where less than 14% of the members are women, is dissolved that the Central Statistics Office publish a report on the contrasting lives of Irish men and women.

It is more than appropriate, in fact. Political under-representation for women is an entirely pressing issue and it has been given little more than lip service for far too long, especially as our paltry ratio — Sweden has 45%, Holland 40% and Trinidad and Tobago at 28% have twice our representation — might even fall when the 31st Dáil is elected. The average female representation in national parliaments for the EU’s 27 countries was nearly 25% last year so we lag behind our EU colleagues by a considerable and embarrassing margin.

This patriarchy has shaped the political culture and practice that has made this month’s election so seminal. It has allowed issues that should have been resolved a long time ago go mouldy in the pending tray. It has contributed to the mind set that has repeatedly failed to deliver legislation on children’s rights and protection.

Most glaringly of all it has allowed the great hot potato of Irish political life simmer on the back boiler as if it might never have to be addressed, but last December’s ruling by the European Court of Human Rights has made it impossible to prevaricate on abortion for much longer. The incoming government will have to deal with this deeply divisive issue whether it likes it or not. It is unlikely that this issue would have dragged on for over a decade had there been more women in positions of real power in our political parties.

That our legislature is dominated utterly by men, mostly middle aged and middle class, may be why it seems unable to finalise these issues. It does them no credit and must narrow their focus too as the full, rounded perspective a society needs is missing. This deficit was highlighted in the most unintentional way when Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin introduced his new front bench at Leinster House on Monday. In what may have been a choreographed arrangement for photographers the few women involved were ushered to the front thereby emphasising how few of them there are. The Dáil is not the only centre of power where women are terribly under represented.

The CSO shows that women are outnumbered by significant ratios in decision-making roles at both national and regional levels. Last year women accounted for just over a third of members of state boards, less than a fifth of members of local authorities and just over a third of the membership of vocational education committees.

This may be accidental but it is not acceptable and it may be time to consider some sort of quota system. Voting for someone because of their gender is not entirely rational, but many Irish politicians have been endorsed for far more spurious reasons.

This society does itself a disservice by making it so hard for women to participate more fully in political life and it is not surprising that we are paying a price for this. It may be too late to move towards resolving the issue in this election but the issue must be included in the programme of reforms promised by those who would lead the next government.