Reader's Blog: Women must use majority status at the polls
One of the more important aspects of the 1918 election that is being commemorated now was that it was the first time women were allowed to vote.
The downside of that is that women, despite being a majority, have been grossly under-represented in the Dáil ever since. Much of the time there were less than 5% of TDs.
At the moment, even after the introduction of a quota, just over 20% of TDs are women.
It has to be said, therefore, that issues that relate to women could have received a higher priority over that century.
They would have received a higher priority if women had used their majority status in the electorate when they were in the polling booths.
That fact was highlighted spectacularly recently in the US presidential elections.
That was the most significant occurrence in women’s lack of appreciation of their power in the electoral process for a long time.
That unique opportunity to elect a highly competent and experienced woman to the most powerful political post in the world was lost.
The fact that a century after receiving the right to vote, more than 50% of white women in the US voted against a female president, and for her misogynist male opponent, was very damaging to women’s place in society and has to be seen as a mistake of historical importance.
The only way to reverse that damage is for women to use their majority status at the next election to see they are adequately represented in the democracies of the world.
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