JUST when it was thought that "women in politics" was no longer the issue it once was, given that both our President and our Tanaiste are female, another book on the subject will be launched by Mary O'Rourke next week. Women in Parliament, Ireland 1918-2000 from Wolfhound is by Maedhbh McNamara, of the Oireachtas Library, and FF Senator Paschal Mooney. With a foreword by the President, Mrs McAleese, and a preface by her predecessor Mary Robinson, it comprises biographies of both, plus all deputies (from Constance Markievicz to Mary Upton), senators, MEPs, and members of the parliaments/assemblies elected in the North since 1921. Such a comprehensive reference book for male politicians would come in volumes.
The President says gratitude is owed to Irish women who broke new ground as public representatives in the past when opportunities were confined and attitudes even narrower. But the low participation rates had to be changed. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights says too often the story of Irish development focuses on the contribution of men. While now active in all walks of life, the deficit at political level, with only 13 per cent of deputies and 15 per cent of local representatives women, had to be made up.
Mooney says he always had an interest in the political advancement of women and as his co-author was getting an increasing number of queries, many from overseas, about women parliamentarians past and present, there was obviously a gap in the research. The book records that no Dail was without a woman member and that by-elections favoured women (that is, if they were a relative). It also gives Markievicz's recommendations, as delivered to the Irish Women's Franchise League in 1915, for success in politics - "dress suitably in short skirts and strong boots, leave your jewels in the bank and buy a revolver . . . take up your responsibilities and be prepared to go your own way depending for safety on your own courage, your own truth and your own common sense." Hear, hear.