Before I became involved in the 5050 group I saw the media as neutral observers reporting in an impartial way on the ‘facts’. I have now come to understand that not only are the media not neutral but they frame how many people come to inform themselves on a subject.
The question for me is does Fionnan Sheehan think it is a good idea to have a more gender balanced political representation? This is important because how he frames his article on Fine Gael’s efforts to redress that gender imbalance can be approached in different ways.
The article is set in such a way as to inflame any would be male candidate with a misplaced sense of grievance. It also places the women mentioned at a disadvantage because it presents them as gaining an unfair advantage. The myth that all male candidates were there on merit and that women don’t ‘make it’ because they are just not good enough is promoted.
Nowhere in the article is there an explanation that men have had an unfair advantage since the foundation of the state. Nowhere in the article is there a mention that no other country has managed to redress the gender imbalance without some form of quota. Nowhere in the article does it acknowledge that in a properly functioning democracy women should be half the representation.
