Madam, - Joanna McMinn, director of the National Women's Council of Ireland, complains that "the forthcoming election will demonstrate the failure of successive (male-dominated) governments and political parties to address gender equality effectively" (Opinion & Analysis, March 8th). She goes on to say that "women are still marginalised in public and political life".
On the same page, Mary Raftery says on a parallel theme that "over two-thirds of all people living in poverty are women". Is it too much to make a connection between these facts? Is a parliament composed overwhelmingly of male representatives ever likely to give adequate priority to issues of importance to women? But we must also ask if governments and political parties are solely to blame.
Ms McMinn suggests that there will be no solutions to the problem until a "critical mass" of women have an influence on how the country's resources are spent". The logic of that argument, as she acknowledges, is that this will not happen unless Irish women do as Nordic women have done. By recognising "the importance of voting and helping to determine election results", they used their majority in the electorate to increase the proportion of women in Nordic parliaments to nearly 40 per cent.
Only when the average woman candidate in Ireland gets more votes than the average male candidate will it be in the interest of the political parties to sit up, take notice and select more women candidates. In addition, the proportion of women representatives in the Dáil will increase from its present level of 13 per cent. And the more women there are in the Dáil, the more influence they will have on how the country's resources are spent. - Yours, etc,
A.LEAVY, Shielmartin Drive, Sutton, Dublin 13.