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Women for Election are gathering information from women in Ireland about their attitudes towards running for political office and experiences of politics.
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Women for Election has welcomed the many comprehensive recommendations in the report presented to Ceann Comhairle Seán Ó Fearghaíl TD, from the Forum on a Family-Friendly and Inclusive Parliament.
Childcare, lack of maternity and parental leave, unsociable meeting times are some of the barriers which have prevented female representatives from fully participating in political life. Most recently South Dublin County Councillor, Clare O’Byrne, resigned her seat citing lack of maternity leave as a key barrier. While parenting and care responsibilities are not gender neutral, in Ireland women still disproportionally hold the majority of unpaid care responsibilities.
Women for Election strongly advocate for family friendly working practices in order to create a working environment which provides equality of opportunity for aspiring and elected female politicians. In addition to standardised maternity, paternity and parental leave these practices also include the promotion of work/family life balance so that all members of Local Government can fulfil their work and family roles and duties.
Women for Election was honoured to be asked by the Ceann Comhairle to participate in the Oireachtas Forum on a Family Friendly and Inclusive Parliament. Our Chairperson Alison Cowzer represents us on this Forum.
The aim of the Forum is “to facilitate the Houses of the Oireachtas’ ongoing development as a family friendly parliamentary community that responds to the needs and interests of both men and women in its composition, structures, operations, methods and work and as an inclusive parliamentary community that better reflects society in Ireland.
The Forum will offer advice and recommendations to the Ceann Comhairle, who will bring the Forum’s report to the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission for its consideration.
The Forum shall consider and make practical recommendations on:
(i) making the Houses of the Oireachtas a more inclusive, family friendly, and gender- sensitive workplace for the parliamentary community;
(ii) ensuring that the Houses of the Oireachtas are supported and resourced to take account of gender and equality issues when legislating;
(iii) improving the diversity of the parliamentary community to better reflect society in Ireland.
We were delighted to present to the Forum in July 2021 and we look forward to further assisting the Forum to help ensure that the voices and insights of the many women we work with are reflected in the Forum’s recommendations.
For Terms of Reference for the Forum click here
Download our recent submission to the Forum
The long, arduous canvas is over. The elbows have been bumped. The leaflets have been distributed. The votes have been cast. And this morning, the staff at the RDS will tumble the ballot papers out of the familiar black boxes to begin the count on the Dublin Bay South Bye-Election, all under the watchful eye, of course, of the uniquely Irish tallymen and women.
Nothing new here really. It’s a scene that is played out during every election we have held in this country over the past 100 years since we gained our independence.
But, perhaps this time, in Dublin Bay South, there is one critical difference. The electorate in this mostly leafy, relatively well-off constituency running from the south inner city out along the South coast road to Merrion and across to Terenure has been given one of the best opportunities ever to elect a strong, progressive woman to the Dáil.
Let’s just say it’s certainly harder for the electorate not to elect a woman. Of the 15 candidates on the ballot paper being tumbled out on the trestle tables this morning, nine are women and six are men – so a 60:40 gender split in favour of women.
This bye-election isn’t the first contest for Dáil Eireann where the electorate is offered a majority choice of women on the ballot paper. However, this is still the greater exception rather than the rule. It was only in 2020 that there was, for the first time, at least one woman on the ballot sheet in every constituency in Ireland. In that same election, almost a third of constituencies (12 of the 39 in the country) did not elect a woman. Dublin Bay South itself reverted to an all-male line-up in 2020 when Kate O’Connell lost her seat there.
While the 2020 General Election saw 36 women elected to Dáil Eireann, the greatest number ever, this still only represents 22.5% of those who sit in our national parliament – or one in five TDs. The picture isn’t much better in other political and decision making arenas. Only 25% of elected councillors are women. Only four of 15 Ministers at the Cabinet table are women and, concerningly, women are currently completely absent from or under-represented at critical government decision making tables, including health and the Covid-19 national response.
It’s little wonder that Ireland still languishes in 99th place in the world for the percentage of women in government, far behind countries like Afghanistan or China. In this decade of centenaries, it’s interesting to look back at where our politics started. In 2021, Ireland elected six women to the fledgling Dáil. One hundred years later, there are just 30 more taking up national seats – not exactly massive progression by any measure.
However, if the voters in Dublin Bay South do opt for a woman after today’s count, there is an opportunity to get from 0 to 25% on the gender equality scale in the constituency itself and the chance to move Ireland from 99th to 92nd on the world ranking. It’s a small step but one in the right direction towards a more representative and diverse politics in Ireland.
It’s because of this absolute need for diversity and representation that Women for Election is so dedicated to seeing more women elected to our politics, both nationally and locally. Currently, when decisions are made about our lives, our homes, our health, our communities, our businesses, the diversity and value of women’s contribution is largely missing, or at best under-represented. This has to change, constituency by constituency.
It’s been heartening to see many political parties put forward such powerful women for the Dublin Bay South Bye-Election, although the selection still lacked representation from ethnic minority or other more marginalised groups. The introduction of 30% gender quotas in 2014 was an important if somewhat uncomfortable first step towards achieving greater representation. For Dáil elections beyond 2023 parties will need to ensure 40% of the candidates selected are women. The Citizen Assembly has also voted to recommend quotas for local and Seanad elections which is a welcome affirmation. At the end of the day, a 50/50 gender balance in government is key to Ireland becoming a thriving vibrant society, reflective of the many progressive steps we have made particularly over the past decade. But we still have a long way to go to get there, based on current figures, and irrespective of what transpires later today, or into the wee hours of tomorrow morning perhaps.
On a stroll around the constituency last weekend, it was great to literally see a potentially changing face of Irish politics with so many posters for female candidates. I was excited to later show the photos to my daughters, and encouraged that younger women and girls can start to see themselves represented in a modern, diverse Irish politics.
Women for Election is working to inspire, support and equip more women to enter and succeed in politics. Our extensive range of training programmes, including our flagship Inspire Campaign Schools, are reaching hundreds of women across Ireland every year. The success of these programmes is borne out in the posters that festooned Dublin Bay South and that will start to be removed over the coming days – hopefully to be re-used again in the next election. We are proud to see so many graduates and supporters of our work running for this bye-election.
As a non-partisan organisation we have not shown any favouritism. However, now that the votes are cast, and without any disrespect to the men in the field, we hope that the best woman will win in Dublin Bay South, and more importantly, that women who share our vision for equality and human rights will be inspired to stay in the game for the next time. We have a long way to go to knock a dent in the largely patriarchal institution that our politics has been for too long. But, things are changing, election by election, and vote by vote, woman by woman.
If you or anyone you know wants to know more about running for election, you can register for our next Women for Election INSPIRE Campaign School.
Ireland needs a lot more women elected as Local Councillors and TD’s. The pace of change over 103 years has been glacial. There were only 36 women (23%) elected to the Dail in 2020 – Ireland ranks 101st in the world for percentage of women elected to national government.
IT’S TIME FOR #MOREWOMEN
To achieve a 50/50 balance in local and national politics by the end of this decade a lot needs to change. To reach the stepping stone and tipping point of 30% there needs to be double the number of women running for the next elections, that means at least 1,000 women on the ticket for the local elections in 2024 (#LE2024) and at least 250 women running for the next Dail elections. The time for campaigning for 2024 ideally starts now.
So this is going to take a national effort with communities around Ireland encouraging and helping resource women to get on the ticket in winnable seats
Everyone can play a role from helping to find a candidate, to supporting your candidates campaign – there is always something you can do to help – or you can encourage friends, colleagues or your employer to donate money to help us grow our programmes to reach, inspire and support a lot more women to run for the next elections.
Women for Election this afternoon welcomed the announcement by Catherine Day that the Citizens Assembly has voted to recommend the introduction of maternity leave for all politicians and the extension of gender quotas by the end of 2022 for party candidates to local, Seanad and European Elections with an increase in penalties for parties that don’t meet the quota and an increase in the threshold from 30% to 40% for both women and men.
Caitríona Gleeson, CEO of Women for Election said that it was great news that after extensive deliberations the members of the Citizens Assembly have voted by large majorities to adopt Women for Election’s earlier submission to the assembly to introduce long overdue maternity leave and extend gender quotas to local, Seanad and European elections. If fully implemented by the government these recommendations will open the doors to political life for a diversity of women across Ireland.
She said that the introduction of maternity leave for politicians was 100 years overdue and the implementation of 40% gender quotas for Local, Seanad and European Elections is necessary to will help rebalance the serious underrepresentation of women in Irish politics with Ireland currently ranked 101st in the world with only 23% of the TDs and 25% of local Councillors being women.
“It is very important that the issues of maternity leave, gender quotas and penalties for parties not meeting the quotas have been recommended.”
she said. “However, it is also important that these long overdue measures are introduced without further delay as the glacial pace of change means there are only 16 more women in the Dail today than there were in 1992. We hope that the recommendation to establish a statutory gender equality body will expediate the implementation of the changes needed. It is simply astonishing that we do not have maternity leave for politicians. It is also an international embarrassment that Ireland ranks 101st in the world with so few women elected to local and national government”.
Women for Election is a non-partisan non-governmental organisation which is working to achieve full representation of a diversity of women in Irish politics. Women for Election inspires, equips and supports women to enter and succeed in Irish politics.
Key Citizen Assembly Recommendations relating to Women in Politics:
Full Citizen Assembly Recommendations here https://www.citizensassembly.ie/en/
Why wait for Citizens Assembly?
asks CEO of Women for Election
Women for Election this afternoon welcomed the announcement by An Taoiseach that the Government is committed to “ambitious reform” to deliver in the areas of maternity, and paternity leave, to ensure full equality for all public representatives.
Caitriona Gleeson, CEO of Women for Election said that it was great news that Minister for Justice Helen McEntee will be the first member of cabinet to be facilitated to take six months maternity leave from April 30th and she wished the Minister and her husband well.
She said that Minister McEntee was a trailblazer for future politicians. However, she said that it was quite extraordinary that this fundamental issue was only being addressed now, in 2021.
“It is great that this issue of maternity leave, which I know is legislatively and Constitutionally complex, is going to be addressed,”
she said. “However, it is also quite astonishing that it is only being addressed now.”
“It is really an indication of how far behind we are in acknowledging and accommodating family life in public life, an issue which still impacts disproportionately on women as they consider political life,” she continued. “It is also an indication of how far behind we are accommodating diversity and equality in political life.”
She urged the Government to bring forward proposals as soon as possible. While she acknowledged that the issue is under consideration by the Citizens Assembly on Gender Equality, she also questioned why legislators could not take on this quite fundamental and live issue without waiting for the Assembly to deliberate.
An Taoiseach Micheál Martin set out his vision to achieve 50/50 representation of women and men in Irish national politics by 2030.
He outlined his aspiration for women in Irish politics during a special Women for Election “In Conversation with” event to mark International Women’s Day 2021. An Taoiseach was in conversation with guest MC Dearbhail McDonald, author and broadcaster.
Women for Election is driving a five year strategy to get more women elected in the next local and general elections with the aim of achieving, at least, a 30% representation of women in local and national government by 2025, increasing to 50/50 representation by 2030.
An Taoiseach said that he was enthusiastic to see more women, and more young women particularly as “activist politicians”. He acknowledged that Ireland’s current position at 101st in the world for female participation in national politics was not a comfortable position to be in.
“We need more women in politics,”
he said. “Political life is wonderfully interesting. Every day is different. If you’re committed to public life or making a difference, my advice is to go for it.”
“We need young women in particular to go forward. And we probably need a new type of participation in politics. Over the past few years we’ve seen more activism in social issues like Marriage Equality. We need electoral reform and to rethink the models through which people enter politics to help more people and more women move from this type of activism into politics.”
He also said that he was committed to bringing forward the reforms required to facilitate paid maternity and paternity leave in Irish politics. He said that in the short term, he would facilitate the Minister for Justice Helen McEntee to take her maternity leave from this May.
He said that quotas were very important in term of national politics and he had found them very useful within his own party in increasing gender diversity. While he had no problem with quotas being expanded to local politics, he said however that he had more fundamental concerns about local politics in general because of its lack of diversity, and its increasing burden and complexity of workload. He welcomed the Moorhead report which recommends adequate remuneration for local politicians.
While quotas exist for Dáil elections, there are currently no quotas for local or Seanad elections. Currently, 22.5% of TDs, 25% of local councillors and 40% of Senators are women.
He also said that he would talk to President Joe Biden about the establishment in the United States of a Gender Council, accountable directly to the President, which will examine gender issues across the whole of Government. He said that he would be open to exploring an Irish Gender Council, reporting into the Office of An Taoiseach.
Finally, An Taoiseach said that he was concerned about the “very damaging” levels of on-line and off-line abuse that candidates and politicians received, particularly candidates from migrant and ethnic communities.
A recent Women for Election report, called More Women – Changing the Face of Politics showed that while the majority of women who run for election would encourage others to do the same, significant barriers still exist to their election success.
Barriers include the lack of full, paid maternity leave (and paternity leave) at all levels of politics, the risk of sexist, racist and misogynistic on-line abuse, including hate speech targeted and women and ethnic minority and migrant women. Another significant barrier is the ongoing resistance within party political systems to running new candidates, and particularly women candidates, in “winnable seats”.
Ireland ranks 101st in the world for the percentage of women elected in national parliament, behind countries like Afghanistan or China. Currently only one in every five TDs and 25% of elected councillors are women. Only four of 15 Ministers at the Cabinet table are women. In total, women are currently completely absent from 40% of critical government decision making tables, including health and the Covid-19 national response.
This special IWD In Conversation event was supported with a generous donation from FuelHQ.
For more information about the In Conversation With Series click here
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