Madam, – Congratulations to Mary Minihan who has successfully instigated public debate on the important issue of female representation in the Dáil (Front Page, August 4th).
However, it appears that some have misinterpreted the quota legislation in question, arguing that it is offering women a free pass to a parliamentary seat. The actual legislation proposed merely ensures that more women be selected as candidates. Ultimately, however, even with quotas in place, the public may still vote a majority of men into the Dáil as is their democratic right. Joanna Tuffy (August 6th) fails to see that the true “interference with democracy” is the profound lack of choice for Irish voters. In the 2007 general election, voters in 60 per cent of constituencies had no option but to vote for male candidates from the two major parties – where is the democratic choice in that?
As Miriam Murphy highlights (August 6th) women are not the only under-represented group in Irish politics, but they do make up 50 per cent of the Irish population and are doubly disadvantaged by the lack of diversity in race, sexuality or socio-economic background of those candidates put forward.
Choice is the ultimate issue here – surely it is time now to redress our “unfinished democracy”! – Yours, etc,
Madam, – It would be interesting to see if Ms Bacik would support the introduction of gender quotas in areas of society that have been traditionally dominated by women, such as teaching and nursing. Surely it would be hypocritical of Ms Bacik not to endorse such a proposal, as it is a clear extension of the logic behind quotas to address the gender imbalance in political life. – Yours, etc,