Women in politics - Remove the barriers

THE appointment of the cabinet and 15 ministers of State highlighted once again how very few of our top-flight political positions are filled by women.

There are far too few women ministers, far too few women deputies and far, far too few women in politics.

Though the idea of a quota system that uses a selection criteria other than merit seems anachronistic, we may have to consider one to counter this situation.

It has been established in an 2009 Oireachtas report that our political system works in ways that makes it difficult, if not impossible, for women to participate more fully.

The mood of the day demands reform and the barriers to a greater participation by women in politics must be challenged. Of course the best way to be an agent for change would be to join a political party and change it from the inside. And this is the perfect time in the political cycle to do that. There won’t be any point in complaining about how few women there are in politics when the next election is called if more women don’t join political parties.