IRELAND NEEDS to urgently review funding arrangements for the political process, change the laddish culture and level the playing pitch so that women can feel comfortable in politics, a conference on women in politics in Cork at the weekend was told.
Speaking at the event at University College Cork, Minister of State for Equality Mary White said it was vital we address our “appalling” national record on the “embarrassing number” of women returned to the Dáil and Seanad Éireann.
But she said EU research found that positive action in the form of quotas was not always successful.
Ms White said the electorate often overlooked the specific and valuable contribution women could make to politics, while cultural attitudes could also impact on women’s ability to retain the confidence and resolve to pursue a political career.
“I myself immediately said when headhunted – ‘no I couldn’t do it, don’t want to do it, can’t do it’. I had to be asked three times before reluctantly saying yes. And why was this? When I speak to women myself about politics, the same issue comes up all the time – how to balance public and private responsibilities, or work-life balance,” she said.
The Green Party TD said the lessons of progress in other countries taught us that institutional parliamentary reform could make a significant difference in encouraging women to enter politics.
“We could take the example of the German parliamentary model, where the parliament rises for a week’s recess for one week every month, an example which would give female MPs who are mothers a chance to restore that work/life/home balance. There is the experience of the South African parliament, where the parliamentary term is modelled on the school term,” she said.
“Its parliament also finishes earlier every day to accommodate families, unlike the Dáil, which doesn’t end until after 8pm on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.” She also mentioned the Swedish Rikstag, where members of either sex can take parental leave.
Ms White said progress was urgently required because only 13 per cent of the Dáil’s TDs were women.
Former minister for education Gemma Hussey said the disgrace which was the absence of women from Dáil Éireann had to be addressed with energy and skill.
Ms Hussey, who is chairwoman of the Ireland Romania Cultural Foundation, said there was an absence of focused, sustained pressure from a dedicated single-issue organisation which had one aim only – to get a critical mass of women into Dáil Éireann.
The Women’s Political Association of the 1970s and 80s was just such a group, she said.
Labour TD for Cork North Central Kathleen Lynch, said it was worrying that Cork had elected only seven female TDs since the foundation of the State.
She was in favour of affirmative action to bring more women into politics but did not think she would go as far as reserving a certain number of seats for women in parliament.
The conference was organised by UCC Women’s Studies in conjunction with the Political Studies Association of Ireland Gender Politics Specialist Group.