Dáil quota would fuel war of the sexes

I AM a man, supposedly one of the patriarchal ruling class. Yet in all my life, I have neither seen nor ever engaged in anti-woman discrimination.

The vast majority of men and women my age have lived in the same world. We are all feminists and egalitarians and happily so.

The top graduate in my engineering class in UCD was a woman, my boss’s boss’s boss is a woman, and my daughters are growing up in a world where they occasionally comment on old movies by asking things like; “Daddy, is that from the old days when silly people thought girls couldn’t fly a plane/shoot a gun/be in charge?”.

The old days and the old ideas are dying every day and are already dead in my generation.

And yet, into this already changed world, and into my nominally republican Ireland, the Government is bringing in quotas for the Dáil.

This is a measure that makes war between the sexes a fixed and permanent part of our democracy rather than a relic of the past.

A measure that makes everyone ask “Are they a man/woman?” instead of asking “Are they a good candidate?”

A measure that betrays the faith people like me put in egalitarian ideas and makes me ask “Should I gang together with other men just to protect my interests?”

This is a mistake of great proportion. Worse, the existing parties are using these issues to cover up a bigger gambit — that they are using taxpayers’ money to fund their own political activities. They are copper-fastening their position as rulers of the state.

Under current law, these parties get to take money from people who oppose their rule (and I do) and they plan to do it using rules that I regard as undemocratic (and they are).

The smell of hypocrisy from the current government gets stronger every day.

Democracy, how are ya?

Hugh Sheehy

Sandymount

Dublin 4