The electorate of Cork had been very cruel to women, the city's Lord Mayor, Cllr Colm Burke (FG), said yesterday. He was speaking at the publication of the Cork Women's Manifesto which urges people to cast their votes for candidates addressing issues affecting women.
It was endorsed by several politicians. "In the 1997 election there were two women candidates - Máirín Quill and Kathleen Lynch - and they both lost their seats," said Cllr Burke. "And in the last general election Deirdre Clune lost hers."
Ms Sandra McAvoy, who was involved in drawing up the manifesto, said it had been compiled after a day-long conference in Cork City Hall last autumn. "We decided to take further action after listening to discussion of the issues that women continue to face and that are not being addressed effectively by the political system."
She said it was hoped the manifesto would make public representatives realise that women represented 51 per cent of the electorate "with a voting capacity of 176,384 in Cork city and county".
Cllr Burke pointed out that fewer than one third of the main parties' candidates in the forthcoming elections to Cork City Council are women. Of the 11 being fielded by Fine Gael, three are women; of the 15 standing for Fianna Fáil, one is a woman, and of the seven Labour candidates, three are women.
If more women were elected to office the dynamics of politics would change, Cllr Burke said.
"Childcare is the big issue for families," he added, and was not being treated with the urgency it would be if there were more women in high political office."
Among the manifesto's demands are the enforcement of gender-balance quotas on all national and local government bodies; greater value being placed on care work; a review of current "inadequate" policies on people with disabilities; and more accessible childcare, elderly care and respite care places.
Some of the politicians endorsing the manifesto yesterday were Ms Catherine Clancy, Labour Party, Ms Jacqui Connolly, Sinn Féin, Ms Deirdre Clune and Mr Simon Coveney, Fine Gael, and Ms Máirín Quill, Progressive Democrats.
