Alison O'Connor: It's time to end the Dail's 'old boys' club' mentality

February 05 2011 04:49 AM

It's this season's must-have accessory and no political leader dares to be seen in public without one -- the female candidate, preferably dressed in pastel.

She can be a rare enough species but, nonetheless, party handlers of all hues will be ensuring there is always one available when needed, looking as fresh and fragrant as when she was first plucked off the party selection vine.

Poor old Pat Rabbitte. The Labour warhorse walked straight into the political gender minefield with his remark about new Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin pulling a stunt by putting female party candidates at the front of a photograph.

I'd wager that Pat's love of the good soundbite would have overtaken any concerns about sexism. In fact, he's of that generation where he is probably still scratching his head over the hoo ha in highlighting the attractiveness of candidates Averil Power and Mary Fitzpatrick. He is hardly of the ilk of soccer pundit Andy Gray but who can blame Ms Power for accusing him of being sexist, when he walked right into it?

Pat did have a point, though, except it is nothing particular to Micheal Martin -- all party leaders are guilty of the 'attractive female candidate as arm candy' sin. Not that those women candidates will be complaining. After all, there is an election on. But if you look at how few of them are actually running, and how even fewer will make it to the Dail, they will certainly be over exposed proportionally in campaign photographs.

To date, by my calculations, around 15pc of Fianna Fail and Fine Gael candidates are female, while Labour stands at a rather more respectable 26pc.

It's a consolation, albeit a small one, that female representation has become an issue in this election campaign. It's only happened, though, because we have reached a critical level. It's likely we will have even fewer women elected on February 25 than the pitiable percentage we had in the most recent Dail, hovering in the mid-teens.

If you've ever spent time in Leinster House you'll know that you could easily mistake it for a gentleman's club where the males are the ones who are elected, and any women to be seen are usually either their secretaries or working in the catering wing of the operation.

There's been lots of talk about the three Cs -- childcare, cash and confidence -- stumbling blocks that prevent women from going into politics, but I think the fourth C is common sense. In general, women have too much of it to put up with a lot of the nonsense that can surround Irish politics.

Of course, the current ridiculous system has been established and moulded by men, so many of whom have fallen in love with the sound of their own voices. They have little problem with the long hours because they will have hardly ever been inside a creche, let alone realise the owner can fine you for being 15 minutes late picking up your toddler.

The problem, then, with being a female in such an ultra-male environment, where there is no balance between the genders, is that the females involved can sometimes decide that it's easier to simply blend in with the boys. You don't want to get a name for being a "feminist" troublemaker, or even worse, a bore.

You just have to think of the difference between an all-female occasion and an all-male one to realise that an institution without the proper yin and yang of the genders has to be out of kilter with the rest of society. Dare we think how different our banks might have been in taking risk-filled, testosterone-fuelled decisions if their senior management and boards had had a proper gender balance.

There are so few female politicians that when one screws up it's all too easy to blame it on them being female. Just ask soccer lineswoman Sian Massey, who now carries the weight of her gender any Saturday she takes to the pitch. Tanaiste Mary Coughlan is certainly gaffe prone but without doubt there has also been more than a hint of misogyny in the coverage she has received in recent years.

How are workplaces ever going to change if our national politics and parliament do not set an example in becoming not just more female friendly, but more family friendly? This will never happen unless there are far more female deputies elected.

It's clear from the line-up of candidates this time around that the situation is going to be even more pathetic than before, especially with the retirement of a number of established female TDs. There is nothing for it except the introduction of quotas and financial penalties for political parties.

There was a time when I would have argued vehemently against quotas, on the grounds of not seeking preferential treatment and all the other blather. However, that is all overtaken by the fact that we, and our children, and our children's children will all be dead and buried at the current rate of progress of gender equality being achieved.

It makes me laugh when I see the majority of existing female politicians saying they are against quotas. You'd have to wonder if it's that politician thing of not wanting any more competition and having spent so much time with the "boys" in Leinster House you start to think like them.

Ironically, a proposal backed by Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny last year to impose quotas of women candidates was rejected by his parliamentary party after Dublin South East TD Lucinda Creighton vociferously objected to it.

Quotas, she felt, were too easy a way to get people "off the hook". That's grand Lucinda, but come back to me with your workable alternatives or when we are no longer languishing at 85th place in world rankings for the participation of women in politics.

Alison O'Connor: It's time to end the Dail's 'old boys' club' mentality

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