Look at the gender of appointers, not just the appointees

"All too often, women in media see a 'keep out' sign on the door of every serious discussion," Minister for Communications Pat Rabbitte observed at a Women on Air conference on Monday. Locked-out women will have to take his word for it, as if they're not in the room, how can they be entirely sure that the conversation going on inside is, in fact, serious?

Gender imbalance persists at the highest levels in both media and politics, Rabbitte noted at an event stuffed with women, many of whom have spent years, and in some cases decades, arguing the same and campaigning for better.

It might seem impossible for media organisations to fare worse on the representation of women in key decision-making forums than, say, the Cabinet, but some do manage it.

“I’d urge private media organisations to examine their conscience on this point,” he said, which will read like a delightfully consequence-free statement to all but those who care.

The board of RTÉ, which is within his sphere of influence, does well enough. Five of its 12 members are women, which may or may not be related to the fact that the Broadcasting Act 2009 specifies that at least five of the appointees must be women and – lest anyone fear a "takeover" – at least five must be men.

The terms of seven of the RTÉ board members are due to end in August, while a further four will expire in February 2015. Only director-general Noel Curran (who also heads the somewhat less gender-balanced RTÉ executive board) is due to stay on beyond then.

The appointment process is now shared between the Government, which appoints six members, and the Oireachtas Joint Committee for Transport and Communications, which appoints four. Alongside Mr Curran, the final member is a staff representative.

Rabbitte has described the committee’s involvement as “an innovation, the merits of which I am not entirely persuaded”. Nevertheless, both the Government and the committee will soon appoint new members to the boards of both RTÉ and the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland in compliance with the legislation. Who knows? Maybe there will be seven women and five men in the RTÉ boardroom this time next year, and the world will still turn.

But pockets of gender balance can only achieve so much. The Minister happens to be a man, because most ministers are men, and the committee is dominated by men, in the same way that the Oireachtas is dominated by men. When it comes to measuring progress at senior levels in media and politics, any serious discussion should look at who is doing the appointing as well as who is being appointed.