Lack of women on State boards a concern, says Ahern

MINISTER FOR Justice Dermot Ahern has expressed concern that the number of women on State boards has not risen enough to reach the Government’s 40 per cent target.

Statistics brought to the attention of the Cabinet recently show the number of chairpersons appointed during 2008 represented a “substantial drop” on the previous year.

The Minister’s department confirmed that of the 54 new heads of State boards put in place last year, only nine were women.

A total of 797 appointments were made to State boards in 2008 and 262 of these were women, representing a slight decline on 2007 figures.

“We need to hit the 40 per cent target. I believe it is achievable,” Mr Ahern said.

The department does not have details for all State boards, but a spokesman said 44 of 266 boards were chaired by women in 2008. He said this represented a slight decline on the number in 2007.

“Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern is concerned that the percentage of women on State boards has remained relatively static for the past two years,” a spokesman added.

“[The] number of female chairpersons appointed during 2008 stands at nine out of 54, 16.7 per cent – a substantial drop on 24 per cent of new appointments as chair on 2007.”

The spokesman said the Government target was 40 per cent and nominations had fallen below that.

However, he said, nominations of women to boards by Ministers in 2008, at 33.7 per cent, was up slightly on the previous year.

“Greater effort is required and Ministers need to be proactive in nominating suitable women to boards under their aegis,” he said.

The spokesman said nominating bodies should also try to secure “suitable women appointments”. Five Government departments exceeded the 40 per cent target in 2008.

These were Education; Social and Family Affairs; Arts, Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs; and the Department of the Taoiseach.

Gender quotas remain a controversial issue in politics. In a report last month, the Oireachtas justice committee recommended temporary legislation requiring parties to adopt quotas or gender targets in their candidate selection process.

Senator Ivana Bacik, who produced the Women’s Participation in Politics report, said this would be the single most effective reform to encourage women into politics.

But some women TDs criticised the report, with Fianna Fáil TD Mary O’Rourke describing it as “discrimination of another kind”. She said: “You just have to have a big brass neck and go out there and do it. There’s no other way.”

The report also recommended the establishment of a national data bank of potential women candidates. It said parties should face financial penalties unless one-third of candidates in the next general election are women. Lack of financial resources was a factor inhibiting women’s progress in politics, the report noted.

It recommended the establishment of a national campaign to raise money from private donors for women’s electoral campaigns.

State funding should be earmarked for women candidates until a certain target of representation is reached, the report continued. Party meeting times and venues should be reviewed to accommodate the caring responsibilities of party members.

The perception of childcare as purely a women’s responsibility should be challenged.

There are 23 women TDs from a total of 166 deputies.