NWCI calls on new government to commit to increasing women’s participation in politics
Published: Sunday, February 27, 2011
The following article written by Susan McKay, chief executive of the National Women's Council of Ireland, appears in today's Daily Mail.
An image from the election campaign. Beautiful, smart Miriam O'Callaghan perched on a barstool interviewing a circle made up entirely of idenitkit men in dark suits and ties, all agitating to be elected. There were endless photos of white, middle class, middle aged men, endless programmes in which no women were invited to speak.
So it is pleasing to record that there will be more women in the 31st Dail than in any previous one, and that for the the first time in the history of the state, men will hold less than 86% of the seats. As I write, it appears that up to 18% of seats will be held by women.
The National Women's Council welcomes every one of them and we hope we will be able to work with them, and with their male colleagues, to promote equality for all women in this country. We will urge the women not to fall into "I'm alright Jill" mode, but instead to support measures which will bring more women, and women from a diverse range of backgrounds, into politics and public life in the future.
The change is welcome, but it falls far short of what is needed and does not necessarily represent a trend. We will still languish near the bottom of the table of European countries when it comes to representation by women. More than eight out of every 10 TDs are still men. Women are half of the population, and it is internationally recognised that democracy is badly served when women make up less than 30% of elected representatives.
The collapse of Fianna Fail, the party which entered the election with no women candidates in 74% of constituencies, meant that voters were going for parties which put more women forward. However, Fine Gael selected no women to run in 65% of constituencies, and Labour selected none in 58% of them. Despite the fact that all of the main parties claimed last year that they wanted to change the appalling gender imbalance in the Dail, only 15% of candidates nationally were women. Fianna Fail did not manage to get a single woman elected.
The former Green Minister for Equality, Mary White, squandered a chance to leave a legacy for women, when she dithered over introducing affirmative measures including legislation requiring parties to ensure that no more than two thirds of their candidates were of either gender, with penalties for those which did not comply, chiefly loss of state funding. We will now push for such legislation, and we will insist that the Labour Party honour its manifesto commitment to it.
The Claiming Our Future movement supports us in this, and will also seek to influence the authors of the new Programme for Government.
Some great feminists with a track record for courage did not gain seats. They include Ivana Bacik, who, as a senator, initiated an excellent all party Oireachtas report on women's participation in politics which remains the blueprint for action, and Susan O'Keeffe. But some of the new faces are promising, including the feisty Joan Collins of People Before Politics, whose heckling ruinned Bertie Ahern's smoochy farewell outside the Dail. And Fine Gael's Frances Fitzgerald -a former chairwoman of the organisation which became the National Women's Council - is back. We will be counting on her to persuade her leader that it is time to bring a feminist perspective to national politics.
After all, women all around this country are holding families and communities together through the ravages of a recession brought about by the arrogance and incompetence of powerful men.
This article appears in today's Daily Mail, Monday 28th February 2011