Madam, – Power comes in many forms; the Catholic hierarchy didn’t need to be in the Oireachtas to have influence. Despite the gender imbalance among elected representatives, women’s groups shape policy much more than advocates for men. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – The ideal solution to achieve gender equality in the Dail is one that would be enthusiastically embraced by most Irish voters, male and female. Instead of finding ways to increase female participation, get rid of enough male TDs to achieve a balance. Oh what a happy day that would be. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – I believe I am right in saying that it is what is between people’s ears that is the criterion for arriving at solutions and putting them into effect, and not any physical differences between genders. And I do not buy into that philosophy of men’s and women’s brains being different, a philosophy that seems to be promulgated by women in particular in order to create division for their own ends.
If the tone of this letter offends, I apologise, but it is time we, as human beings, saw each other as people. I believe the reason there are not more female politicians in government is merely because they are late-comers to politics. Time, and not undemocratic quotas, will resolve the issue. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – No reasonable person would support the present gender balance in the Dáil. The national male/female split is about 50/50 and the parliament should reflect that. That would not guarantee a better or indeed a worse system. But politics is not all about the glamour of Dáil Éireann.
My own experience is that many more women need to get involved at grassroots level where the potwalloping is done. Mind you if we were serious about solving the problem, a very simple method would be to have an even number of seats in each constituency to be designated 50 per cent male and 50 per cent female. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – In the continuing debate on gender quotas for women TDs, a number of contributors have referred to the Scandinavian countries that have achieved greater gender balance in their parliaments since they introduced gender quotas for parliamentary elections in the 1970s. However, none of those countries have implemented gender quotas on their fishing fleets or their oil rigs.
If gender quotas are required to achieve a balance in politics, then they would also be required in other professions such as female- dominated nursing and teaching, given that gender equality is supposed to go both ways. There will be more widespread support for the gender quotas called for by Senator Ivana Bacik and the National Women’s Council when we hear that they are promoting a gender quota for women working on bin lorries.
In the 2002 general election, the Progressive Democrats defied expectations by doubling its Dáil seats to eight when Fiona O’Malley, Liz O’Donnell, Mae Sexton and Mary Harney succeeded in gaining 50 per cent of the eight seats in a government party without the need for a gender quota. However, the 2007 election was disastrous for them and reflects that the Irish electorate vote on policies and performance rather than gender. – Yours, etc,