Madam, - So Ronnie O'Toole (Opinion, August 26th) believes that the "high level of male representation at local government level and in the Dáil is mostly not directly a reflection of their gender.
Rather, it reflects an inherent bias towards anyone who is willing to spend more time at their political activities, and they disproportionately tend to be male". This sweeping statement is based, he tells us, on information released in a recent research project at University College Cork - a project that has earned scant mention in the press and has yet to be subjected to public scrutiny.
How dare Mr O'Toole represent women's contribution to public life in such a dismissive manner? Women make up half the Irish population. We have contributed to the nation's well-being in many spheres; we bear the children, teach and nurse those in need of care, cherish differences and certainly value our planet more than men.
In a democratic society it seems vitally important, if we are to retain a respect for the political system, that women's voices are heard. In the early years of the third millennium it seems impertinent to expect men to carry all the burden of representation.
Yes, I am a "gender quota" politician myself. In the late 1980s, when the Labour Party returned no woman to the Dáil or Seanad, Dick Spring, the then party leader, encouraged the Labour Women's National Council to bring forward proposals that would increase the involvement of women in the party at national level and encourage and support successful women candidates in local, European and general elections.
My party now has a healthy 33 per cent of women among its Dáil members. Because of the introduction of quotas, I was selected, elected and achieved high office and today I am the elected cathaoirleach of Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council, a council that has its fair share of women councillors.
A healthy democracy is one that involves a high level of participation - where those selected to run for public office "are willing to commit themselves fully to what is a difficult and time-consuming occupation", to use Mr O'Toole's words. Traditionally men have held the purse strings of power, in parliament, church and even in Cork University. Women were ruled over, preached at and kept off governing bodies for too long. Today, when they are being invited by political parties to stand for public office so that a pluralist model of representation is achieved, Mr O'Toole's opinions are extremely old-fashioned.
Gender quotas have always given rise to spirited debate within political parties. They are difficult to achieve; but they are necessary if we believe it is important to redress women's under-representation. Of course, if some men are intent on rubbishing this goal and want to continue in the preaching and representation roles, Mr O'Toole is your only man, but he is certainly not mine. - Yours, etc.,
Cllr NIAMH BHREATHNACH, County Hall, Dún Laoghaire, Co Dublin.