Junior Ministers are being appointed today – but will they fix the current gender imbalance in Government?
Former Minister for Education Mary Hanafin told Newstalk Breakfast she was “very disappointed” with the number of women appointed to cabinet.
“Not only did we not maintain the status quo, we actually went backwards,” she said.
“Now, that’s a really bad way to go, I think it sends a very bad message to women around the country.
“It is no example to young people who we are trying to encourage to come into politics.
“20 years ago, we had more women in the cabinet than we have now – and yet we have more TDs.”
55 of the 655 women who ran in local elections at City Hall in Dublin celebrating gender equality, 19/05/2024. Image: Flor McCarthy.Ms Hanafin said that more efforts – such as quotas – need to be put in place when it comes to electing women.
“I was never a fan of quotas, I came around to them on the basis that I thought, ‘Well, it’s at least just getting women on the tickets’,” she said.
“Now that those 40% quotas are there, I believe that all of the political parties need to start working on supporting women, not three weeks or three months out from a campaign but three years out from a campaign.”
According to Ms Hanafin, it is important to maintain a gender balance in cabinet to ensure the gender breakdown of the population is accurately reflected in Government.
Supports
She said each party should implement a strong mentoring system is needed to allow women to overcome the barriers of entry into the world of politics.
“The barriers are definitely real,” Ms Hanafin said.
“There’s lots of research to show that confidence, childcare, cash, selection conventions – all the fees – are the important barriers when it comes to women.
“Even since my day I think it has become a lot more difficult with social media, with attitudes towards women generally that we’ve seen – and particularly towards women politicians.”
Ms Hanafin said that a “huge number” of women attend political Ardfheis’ across all parties and supports are needed to get them to “the next step”.
Listen back here:
Main image:The 33rd sitting of the Dáil for the announcement of the members of the new Cabinet.
PIC: MAXWELLS. 27/06/2020
