Trailblazers in a Europe of gentlemen's clubs

Why not a woman?

I confess. I voted for a woman. Admittedly it was only an Internet vote on The Irish Times Web site. We of the diaspora must take our few pleasures where we can.

Although the spirit was willing to suspend disbelief, it was not quite that frisson one gets from the real thing - that sense of personally writing history or, most importantly, the sadistic thrill of filling the bottom slot: 1,2 . . . in order of preference: 5,4,3 . . . in order of hatred.

But I digress.

I voted for a woman because two days before the election, the Council of Europe sent me the results of a survey that would have embarrassed even Derek Nally into voting for a woman. Thirty years into the age of women's liberation and things have changed precious little. When (if) Mary McAleese takes over as President she will be the only woman head of state or of government in the 40 member-states of the Council of Europe. Yet in 1993, at the time of the Council's last summit, there were five.

The range of representation of women in political life in the extended Europe is huge, but most parliaments remain overwhelmingly gentlemen's clubs. ("Men's clubs" would be a more accurate description if Labour's new intake of women into the Commons is to be believed on the scale of sexual harassment they face). At one end of the spectrum, half of Sweden's ministers are women - it is difficult to find enough competent men, I once heard the former Deputy Prime Minister, Mona Sahlin, complain. But that was before she resigned over an expenses fiddle. No one said our sisters are all saints.

Yet in six countries - Cyprus, Hungary, Moldova, Poland, Romania and Slovenia - there are no female ministers.

Representation in the lower or single house of parliament ranges from 40 per cent, again in Sweden, to 2.4 per cent in Turkey. Ireland, with 20 women TDs (12 per cent) comes in 18th in the league, some six places behind Britain (18 per cent) - the latter shot up the table at the last election when women also doubled their representation in the cabinet (22 per cent).

The top of the league is dominated by the Nordic six, followed by Germany, Austria and then Spain, where one in four parliamentarians is a woman. Next, although it gave women the vote only in the late 1960s, comes Switzerland (21 per cent).

At the bottom of the table, just above Turkey, comes the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), just pipped by Andorra, Ukraine and Liechtenstein.

In some cases the situation is improving significantly, in others, the reverse. In Russia only one in 10 representatives in the State Duma is a woman - down from 13 per cent in 1993 - while in the Council of the Federation representation has plummeted from one in 10 to two in 178. If change were happening one suspects one might find evidence of higher numbers of women at local government, slowly pushing their way up through the system. But the survey, although incomplete on local politics, does not paint an altogether rosy picture - in Ireland there are only 2 per cent more women councillors (14 per cent) than TDs. Poland's position is similar (13 per cent to 12 per cent), while in France the proportion is double (22 per cent).

In the Nordic countries women's local representation is slightly below their excellent national figures.

In most countries the equivalent of a promotional glass ceiling prevails - although women are increasingly becoming local councillors they clearly find it far more difficult to become mayors.

In Portugal and Slovenia, for example, representation at national level is running at between 8 and 12 per cent while only one in 20 town halls are run by women. In Turkey, it is one in 200 and Austria, one in 100.

It's also worth noting that, by and large, those countries where quotas of reserved seats are applied within political parties do consistently better in enhancing women's representation. A 1994 Belgian law to reserve a minimum proportion of one-third of the places on electoral lists for women has yet, however, to have significant effect.

So, believe it or not, Mary McAleese and Ireland are trailblazing - and so perhaps her first foreign trip should be to the Council of Europe's "Fourth ministerial conference between women and men" in Istanbul on November 13th.

The full details of the Council of Europe survey of women in politics is available on the Internet: http://www.dhdirhr.coe.fr.