Dr. Margaret O’Keeffe of the Cork Branch of the 50:50 Group highlighted a point at last Monday’s meeting that surprised me. There were 12 Constituencies out of the total of 43 in the last general election that did not have any women on the Ballot Paper. This is a surprising statistic.
Ciaran Lynch TD is adamant that the Equality Bill is not a gender issue but is a societal one. It is, he says, something that reflects Irish Society as a whole. It does reflect Irish Society but in a very poor light. How come many parties felt that they did not have a female candidate strong enough to represent them on the ballot paper?
Deputy Billy Kelleher suggested that the traditional party selection process was based on being part of “the club”, that women were not part of and this prohibits women from being selected.
Deputy Jerry Buttimer suggested three possible barriers to having women in government:
- Self Selection Stage – women tend not to put themselves forward.
- Party Selection – gatekeepers in the party that choose the candidates
- Voting Stage – ensuring that voters do not discriminate
All parties present on the night welcomed the Equality Bill and rightly so. Quotas work and this has been proven in the many countries that have them. We need them to work in Ireland as well. There are less women currently sitting in the present government than there was in the last one.
The Equality Bill is needed to get women through the party selection process and onto the ballot paper. It is not about reserved seats or allocated seats. It is purely about giving voters a fair and equitable ballot paper that reflects the society and community that they live in.
It is about getting parties to follow through on their great aspirations of having more women on the ballot paper. Hopefully this will lead to seats in the Dail for women if the voters see fit.
Fiona Buckley, UCC, pointed out at the meeting that there are over 2000 groups in Ireland, which are being led by women. It is now time for these women to move from the politics of “the small ‘p’ to Politics of ‘ the big ‘P’.
I believe the Equality Bill will help to achieve this.
Hugh,
Thank you for your comments but the Quota Bill is being put in place to ensure that women get a fair representation on the Ballot Paper. That is all.
After that, is it is down to the power of the voter and the hope that the best man or woman will be allocated a seat.
Ireland is a democratic country and it is the voter who decides who should represent them, whether that be a man or a woman. There is no sexism in that.
Best Wishes,
Fiona.
The recent proposed amendment to the bill means that the measure *IS* about reserved seats.
The sexist genderquotas rule would stay in place, also cementing the position of these supposedly sexist political parties in place, until a specified percentage of the elected TDs are of the female sex.
That’s “reserved seats”….or as near as makes no difference.
Watch out Ireland, the sexists are coming. And they want to give your money to the Four Parties of the Apocalypse.