22% of dáil - Village Magazine

July 2016 3 5

22% of dáil

Needed: childcare, cash, conﬁdence,

culture and candidate selection

reland had, until this year, an appalling record on

women’s participation in politics. Men always rep-

resented at least 84% of TDs. The proportion of

women TDs had never increased above 16%. Voter

choice was severely restricted, with no women can-

didates of any party ﬁelded in several constituencies in

both the 2007 and 2011 general elections. Between

1990 and 2011, women’s rate of political representation

actually reduced. In 1990, Ireland was in 37th position

in the world table of women’s representation in national

parliaments but by 2011 had fallen to 84th position,

with only 23 women TDs out of 166 (14%), well below

the world average.

In the February 2016 general election, the percentage

of women TDs increased signiﬁcantly to 22%, with 35

women out of 158 TDs. This still remains below the Euro-

pean Union average. Ireland is at 76th place in the world

tables of women’s representation. So, while improved,

our democracy continues to be not truly representative.

Nonetheless progress now seems possible and further

gains can be expected.

Gender parity has been one of my key campaign pri-

orities since my ﬁrst election as a Senator in 2007. The

barriers are signiﬁcant, known as the ‘ﬁve Cs’ of child-

care, cash, conﬁdence, culture and candidate selection.

These are captured in the 2009 report, that I drafted,

of a Sub-Committee on Women’s Participation in Poli-

tics of the Joint Oireachtas Justice Committee. We made

a series of recommendations aimed at addressing each

of these challenges. The introduction of quota legisla-

tion to require political parties to

select a minimum proportion of

women candidates for each election

was recommended for candidate

selection. This was the underpinning

for the progress made in the Febru-

ary 2016 election.

This recommendation was contro-

versial and was vocally opposed by

many, including some high-proﬁle

women politicians. NGO support and

campaigning was key in changing

the political climate for this recom-

mendation. The National Women’s

Council, ‘50:50 by 2020’ and ‘Women for Election’ all

played a big role in this. ‘Labour Women’, the women’s

section of the Labour Party, had a particularly inﬂuen-

tial role. The combined strength and inﬂuence of these

groups enabled Labour to push successfully for the

inclusion of this recommendation in the Programme for

Government of the Fine Gael/Labour coalition elected

in 2011.

The Electoral (Amendment) (Political Funding) Bill

was introduced in the Seanad in February 2012, and

became law in July 2012. It obliged each political party

to select at least 30% of their candidates of each gender

for the subsequent general election; rising to 40% after

seven years. Political parties failing to meet this ﬁgure

would lose half of their state funding. Legal quotas

work and have a transformative effect as was proven in

the February 2016 election.

Clearly, other obstacles remain. Candidate selection

is only one of the ‘ﬁve Cs’. Culture is key and remains a

signiﬁcant barrier. The political culture in Ireland is still

predominately male, just as it is in other spheres, such

as third-level education. Quotas need to be accompa-

nied by action for a change in culture.

It is early yet to predict the likely impact of gender

quotas on culture and practice within political parties.

There was some opposition to the Act itself from indi-

viduals who felt adversely affected by it. The

Constitutional status of the Act was challenged unsuc-

cessfully in the Courts. Generally, however, the

necessity for some positive action measure to tackle

persistently low levels of women’s political representa-

tion was accepted, albeit grudgingly by many.

Culture within the political system is also at issue. It

is to be hoped that, over time, the way we do politics

may be positively inﬂuenced by the increased presence

of women in the Oireachtas. In my own limited experi-

ence, increased numbers of women in the Seanad

seems to have made for a more collaborative and less

adversarial working environment.

Much more still needs to be done before we can

achieve gender parity in our democracy. In particular

the intangible work of changing cultures within politi-

cal parties and the political system requires attention

and initiative. I look forward to continuing the campaign

and to further developing this focus.

I am currently working with others in the Oireachtas

to celebrate the centenary of that momentous 1918 elec-

tion, with a series of events in Leinster House and

elsewhere. Our celebration - called ‘VoteAll 100’ should

remind us that as we commemorate the achievements

of the past, we have yet to achieve true gender equal-

ity. It is these types of initiative that can stimulate the

shift in values that would drive a new culture in our poli-

tics that embraces and reﬂects gender equality.

The Political Funding

Act 2012 obliged each

political party to select

at least 30% of their

candidates of each

gender; rising to 40%

after seven years

by Ivana Bacik

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