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Tagged: Politics, Sexism, Women in politics

The Never Ending Female Quota Debate

Illustration from Stock.XCHNG

Yesterday’s edition of RTÉ’s Prime Time made a valuable contribution to the ongoing debate on gender quotas in politics.

We heard all the usual arguments (this time from Irish Time columnist Sarah Carey): that (not) going into politics is a woman’s choice, that all women can go into politics if they really want, and that no woman entering politics due to a quota system will ever get any respect being elected on the basis of gender rather than skills (the latter argument seems only to apply to quotas based on gender however, as various quotas already in place, such as geographical quotas, are apparently unaffected by this Hellish Spell).

These are many of the same reasons reported by present Irish women TD’s, most of them opposing an introduction of such quotas.

We also heard that with the present rate of increase in female TD’s, it will be another 370 years until we have equal representation.

Ranking 84th in the world for female representation in politics, behind countries like Kazakhstan and Rwanda, only 4 EU countries are doing worse than Ireland (Cyprus, Romania, Hungary and Malta).

And with only 13 per cent women in the Dáil  (and two female TD’s, Olwyn Enright and Liz McManus, having recently stepped down), there is no denying that change is desperately needed.

Enright, previously opposing gender quotas, have recently changed her mind on the subject, arguing a valid point in the debate:

My gut instinct is no, but what’s the solution then if we don’t have quotas? I think that’s what nobody’s has really been able to answer. If you’re against quotas, how else do we increase female representation?

Of course, nobody wants a political climate where any quotas are necessary. However, all history and statistics prove that there is little choice in the matter if proportionate representation is to be achieved. According to Professor David Farrell, Head of School of Politics at UCD,  more than 100 countries already use gender quotas to facilitate more proportionate political representation.

There are opponents to such measures in every country, but like Enright says, what other solutions are we presented with? 370 years? In the last general election five constituencies had no female candidates at all!

Enough of the old arguments already.

It’s every woman’s choice whether she wants to be in politics or not? Of course it is. But like Ivana Bacik said in the debate yesterday, nobody can make choices in a vacuum. The way things are today, there are barriers to prevent women from going into/staying in politics. When women choose to go into politics, this choice will not be facilitated the same way for women as for men.

And the argument of getting elected due to your gender and not to your skills, when is it ever going to happen that unqualified women are going to be elected? It’s not like requiring more women on the lists will automatically lead to lists of male politicians but female bakers and accountants. There are plenty of qualified women out there! It just happens that finding them might take effort beyond going for a round of golf with friends from secondary school. Also, there are lots of countries to look to for experience. Quotas have generally led to more equal representation in politics in states where such have been introduced. And as far as I know, none of these have experienced a lapse in qualified members of parliament as a consequence.

Not Exactly Role Models of the Week: Czech MPs

The last general election in the Czech Republic resulted in the highest ever number of elected female MPs, with 44 women elected to the lower House of Parliament.

The good news were celebrated by……organising a sexy photo shoot and making a calendar.

We want to draw attention to the fact that we have women in politics

said MP Lenka Andrysova to the Telegraph.

I can think of a few things that might possibly work slightly better.

All of a sudden, it dawned on me….people will understand that I’m intelligent now that I’ve been elected. I was terrified this could mean that random old men wouldn’t have sexual fantasies about me any more, so I felt it was time to do something about it. Now that anyone can jerk off to my fab pictures (all they need to do to see me in my underwear is to spend a few quid on the calendar), I feel much more reassured, and I’m confident that this is a great way of introducing myself to the public and kick start my political career.

commented another of the MPs. (Well, strictly speaking that’s not entirely true, I might have made that up for the Hell of it)

Same-Sex Marriage Legalised on Iceland

A marriage equality law giving homosexuals the same rights as heterosexuals to be married came into effect on Iceland yesterday.

One of the first people to change their registered partnership into legitimate marriage were none the less than the Icelandic Prime Minister herself, Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir and her long-term partner.

As far as I know, Sigurðardóttir is the world’s only openly gay head of state. The interesting part is, her sexuality and now marriage, apparently isn’t really an issue on Iceland.

When Johanna Sigurðardóttir was elected in 2009 Frosti Jónsson, chairman of Iceland’s gay-and-lesbian association, explained

‘There are so many openly gay prominent figures in both the public and private sector here that it doesn’t affect who we select for our highest offices. Our minds are focused on what counts, which is the current situation in the country’

Sigurðardóttir is further a self-proclaimed feminist and under her leadership all lap dancing and strip clubs in the country have been banned. The ban is a result of a law which makes it illegal for any business to profit from the nudity of its’ employees. Purchasing sex has also become criminalised.

Interestingly, both these laws were passed on feminist grounds, rather than religious as is the case in other countries with similar bans. When the ban on strip clubs was introduced, the politician who proposed the ban maintained that the main reasoning behind the legislation was that ‘It is not acceptable that women or people in general are a product to be sold‘.

I think Ireland, as well as the rest of the world, has a lot to learn from Iceland’s no-nonsensical approach to equality issues. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like any similar legislations on banning strip clubs will be introduced here any time soon, but we can always hope that all the great campaigning for civil marriage to be recognised will soon pay off.