Madam, – The announcements by TDs Olwyn Enright and Liz McManus that they will not contest the next election have led to renewed discussion on the subject of women in the Dáil. Given that by then, one will be the mother of two pre- school children and the other will have reached the normal public service age of retirement, their decisions seem perfectly reasonable.
We have gone from one extreme to another, from the totally unfair “marriage bar”, to a situation where there is social pressure on new mothers to return to work within six months, instead of being at home, free of bottles and creche, from at least the birth of the first child until the last goes to school. A family-friendly culture would not so much focus on day-long childcare as on welcoming back into the workforce, if they so wish, women who have taken these years off.
No matter how much workplaces change, many mothers would not choose work over home during the early years. As a greater representation of women in the Dáil is desirable, political parties might aim for experienced women candidates who have reared their families and are free to start a new chapter in their lives. Notable examples who followed that pattern would be Liz McManus, already mentioned, and Mary O’Rourke, who respectively by 2012, will have served 20 and 30 years in the Oireachtas. – Yours, etc,