Online abuse, sexist structures, night shifts: no wonder more women don’t go into politics

The group Women for Election have appointed a man as chief executive. Brian Sheehan, who will take up the role, is well-regarded and was previously general secretary of the Social Democrats and director of Glen, the Gay and Lesbian Equality Network. He has form in progressive politics.

Curiously, Regina Doherty, former cabinet minister and now a Fine Gael Senator, greeted the news of his appointment by saying it “sends the wrong message to women”, adding that “it’s a real own goal that we couldn’t find a woman”.

Gender stereotypes cut both ways.

They are one reason women are so poorly represented in politics. We are the seventh-lowest out of the EU27 in terms of women’s representation. Globally, we rank jointly with Djibouti at number 101. In terms of gender, the Dáil is barely more representative than the ascendancy parliament in the 18th century.

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The architecture of Irish politics is changing significantly. In September, new constituency boundaries with up to 20 extra Dáil seats will be published. In a multiseat constituency system – where candidates of the same party compete against each other (and all others), and localism is a strong pull on voter loyalty – boundaries matter. Safe bailiwicks will be split and a new competitiveness for seats will be injected into the system.

Underlining this is the fact that, since February 27th, parties wishing to receive State funding must ensure that 40 per cent of their candidates are women. This is an increase from the 30 per cent in place since the 2016 election. For parties on a downward trajectory in opinion polls, who need to run very tight tickets to get just one candidate in a constituency elected, this will be challenging.

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A lot of money is at stake – €5.8 million was shared between seven parties in 2021, and half their allowance will be forfeited by those who fail to comply. Add into the mix an apparently deep desire for political change, which may or may not be acted upon on polling day, and we have unprecedented forces coming together to unsettle the status quo.

It is worth measuring the strength of that force so far. In the 2011 general election, 45 per cent of all TDs elected were new. That was the third-highest turnover of parliamentarians in a western democracy since the second World War. In 2016, the figures was 38 per cent and in 2020 it was 30 per cent. Cumulatively, this is extraordinary change.

Still only 37 – or 23 per cent – of our TDs are women. This is in a context where the 30 per cent quota in place since 2016 had a modestly positive effect. It delivered a Dáil with 22 per cent of women TDs, up from 15 per cent in 2011, which was the single biggest increase ever.

Throughout the 1970s, a total of only seven women were elected to the Dáil, and only one of them – Kit Ahern from Kerry – was not related to a deceased male TD. From four women TDs elected in 1977, 10 were elected in 1981. New deputies like Mary Harney and Nora Owen had a lasting influence, and Monica Barnes arrived shortly afterwards. But after that step change, there has only been incremental change.

If political structures are important, culture shapes politics. On being elected president in 1990, Mary Robinson spoke of na mná na hÉireann “who instead of rocking the cradle, rocked the system”. In politics this remains an unfulfilled promise.

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Women have made far better progress in other areas. There is a way to go but, in board rooms, in law, in universities, in media, in the public service and in many areas of business, there is a real sense of wind in the sails. Yet politics remains stubbornly out of reach for too many women.

Nominally rules-based, competition in politics is feral. It is part of the night-time economy – during the hours when children need to be fed and have an adult at home with them, politics comes alive. Meetings across the constituency are in full swing. If you don’t do it, you don’t get on a ticket, and if you don’t keep at it, you don’t get elected. The barriers in a world where too many still believe some roles are inherently for women and others for men still apply.

Meanwhile, younger women and men don’t see the relevance of the systematic sort of politics required in a national parliament. Their activism and energy is channelled into volunteerism, where there is a much closer link between input and objective. NGOs and single issues benefit. The referendums on Repeal and marriage equality led cultural change. However, underlying political structures were dented but left largely intact. Much of the apparently massive change in personnel in Irish politics since 2011 has had more swirl than substance. The derisive abuse of politics on social media, disproportionately directed against women, reinforces these barriers.

In appointing a male chief executive, Women for Election have upheld equality and taken down another barrier.

Still, the 40per cent quota will not deliver change unless women come forward and are supported by both men and women.