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Fiona Buckley, Department of Government, University College Cork writes…

Electoral gender quotas are highly controversial & stimulate a considerable amount of debate wherever they are adopted.

Analysis of the gender quota discourse in Ireland & elsewhere reveals that resistance to quotas derives from the liberal concepts of individualism & meritocracy.

• Objectors consider quotas to be a form of discrimination, & a violation of the principles of fairness, competence & equality of opportunities.
• Others believe quotas will lead to the selection & election of unqualified individuals who are in politics based solely on their biological sex & not on ability.
• Liberal opponents suggest representation should be “about representing ideas, not social classes or categories” (Dahlerup, 2006: 10).

Merit & ability arguments assume, naively, that all election candidates make it into politics ‘on their own’.  This is untrue.

“Many candidates experience forms of advantage, whether it is family connections, large personal resources, favour by the party leadership, or, as is specific to Ireland, strong local profile due to GAA connections” (Buckley & McGing, 2011)[i].

These forms of advantage are considered normal – and are rarely questioned.

Politics is not a level-playing pitch.
Scholarly research has identified gendered barriers that prevent fair competition for political office.  These are summarised under the ‘Five Cs’ model as

• care (childcare or otherwise)
• culture
• cash
• confidence
• candidate selection

Advocates argue that gender quotas are a compensation for the structural barriers that women face when entering politics. 

Gender quotas touch upon central debates in the theory of representation.  ‘Representation’ is a key concept in the study & practice of politics.  It is about:

• who represents
• who is represented
• what is represented
• how representation takes place.

Anne Philips’ seminal work The Politics of Presence argues that, as women all over the world have been excluded from representation, this must be taken as the starting point in the discussion of gender quotas & representation, not some abstract debate on the principles of representation[ii].

The continuing under-representation of women in Irish politics is a blight on our democratic record.

Speaking at the Oireachtas Sub-Committee on Women in Politics in September 2009, former TD, Liz O’Donnell pronounced – until we have more women participating in politics is Ireland, ‘our democracy is unfinished’[iii].

Legislators would do well to keep this in mind as they work together to finalise the gender quota proposal.