Women in politics – not everyone likes the idea and change is a challenge

SINCE the election of the first Dail in 1918 we have had over 4,650 TDs elected and less than 150 of those have been female.

At present, 15 per cent of our TDs are women, but this figure has only increased by 1 per cent in the last 20 years.

With half of our population being female, are we happy with these figures?

Some people are. Others see the real need to address the obvious bias that these figures show.

The Electoral Amendment (Political Funding) Bill 2011 requires all parties to nominate at least 30 per cent female candidates in the next general election.

‘Positive discrimination’ or

’employment equity’ or

‘affirmative action’ are all terms that refer to policies that favour disadvantaged groupings or those who are perceived to be discriminated against within a specific culture or organisation and have been applied with success to correct bias of all kinds.

Our culture has a bias towards men in politics. No one is suggesting that it is overt, but that it has developed over time and that adjustment of that bias is most efficiently achieved by establishing a quota or a target.

If you attend any political meeting for any party in this country, you will find no more than two women for every 10 men present. If we want to change this balance we can wait 500 years or we can take steps to accelerate that change.

Cllr Tom Brabazon wrote last week in this newspaper that ‘this legislation is completely misconceived’ and was an idea

‘slavishly grabbed from overseas’. He says that the women to date who have succeeded did so because they simply

‘wanted to’ and that they needed no help such as this legislation offered.

He suggests that the

‘women who succeed (under the new legislations) will be those without families’ and believes that women could only see this legislation as

‘patronising’. He refers to the possible female candidates as

‘sweepers’ for strong male candidates.

Unlike Cllr Brabazon, I believe that we ought to learn from the experience of other countries and to do so is not

‘slavish’ but informed.

There is clear evidence in Europe to show that candidate quotas can jumpstart the process of increasing political representation.

When done in Belgium, France and Sweden there were significant increases in the numbers of females elected.

Cllr Brabazon suggested that the women who have succeeded in political life did so because they desired success sufficiently. He offers this as the simple truth, that there are no other factors to be considered. I find this a very simple and naïve interpretation of this complex issue.

It is well recognised that women, like men, need role models to mirror the way forward. Men have a century’s history of men in high office and role models in so many spheres of life, women have a few. Women like Mary Robinson and Mary McAleese have been wonderful role models for Irish women, as is Frances Fitzgerald, currently. However, the number of women in such positions is too few.

Men have had a very clear uninterrupted horizon on the political landscape for many years, the results of which are very much less than perfect. If this legislation is successful and we have more women elected, clearly we will also have less men. Women are wise enough to see that this is difficult for men who have worked to be where they are politically, and sensitivities are inevitable.

More importantly, however, women know and understand life from a very different perspective. We need that perspective to be voiced, heard and those opinions knitted in to the decisions that shape our communities, our services and our futures. Society, men and women will be the beneficiaries of the change that is hoped for with this legislation.

Change is always a challenge. It brings something new, but forces a letting go of something else.

Finally, I entirely reject the suggestion made, that this legislation

‘patronises women’ and that the women who may stand will be

‘sweepers’ for strong male candidates.

I find Cllr Brabazon’s comments to be patronising and would suggest that these remarks, however, unintentional, infer that the female candidates in Dublin Bay North are in some way weaker than the writer himself. Think again Cllr Brabazon. Women see through that kind of thing.

* Stephanie Regan is a local area representative for Fine Gael in Dublin Bay North.