Gender balance in Irish politics ranked among world’s worst

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Irish Examiner

Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Gender balance in Irish politics ranked among world’s worst
By Jennifer Hough

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

IN 2004, a worldwide poll ranking female representation in national politics put Ireland in 63rd position.

Last month, that ranking had slipped to an abysmal 88th position, below countries such as Bolivia, Sudan, Cambodia and Kazakhstan, making Irish women among the most under-represented in political life across the EU. The rankings were compiled by the Inter-Parliamentary Union which has UN observer status.

At the current rate of movement – or indeed non-movement – it will take 370 years for the percentage of women in the Dáil to reach 50%.

Paula Clancy, founding director of TASC, a think tank for social change, expressed serious concern that instead of progress simply halting – which had been the case for many years – Ireland has actually slipped down the world rankings.



Read more: http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/gender-balance-in-irish-politics-ranked-among-worlds-worst-92051.html

[Blue_Tires]

1. eye-opening story

not one of those things you usually think about, but now that i have, i don't think i've ever seen a prominent female irish politician in my life

[Maeve]

8. Mary Robinson, Mary Coughlin, Mary McAleese--any of those ring a bell?

Two Presidents and a Tanaiste.

[Blue_Tires]

11. i see...

guess i should start keeping up more... like a lot of things, i guess if i don't ever see it on the news/TV it doesn't exist...:dunce:

[patrice]

2. One of the most sincerely intolerant fascists I know has been an "Irish" maniac several years now

ex-military, lots and lots of talk about "the Warrior Race".

[bottomtheweaver]

3. The current Irish president, a woman, is the world's first president to follow another woman:

"Irish Republic President Mary Patricia McAleese (Irish: Máire Pádraigín Bean Mhic Ghiolla Íosa, born 27 June 1951) is the eighth and current President of Ireland. She is Ireland's second female president and the world's first woman to succeed another woman as an elected head of state. She was first elected president in 1997 and won a second term, without a contest, in 2004."



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_McAleese

Sounds like somebody's still steamed about that EU vote? :shrug:

[PassingFair]

4. In a country where birth control was made available only recently....

http://goireland.about.com/od/preparingyourtrip/qt/contraception.htm

It is no surprise that women who were raised
with no sense of self-determination on something
so PERSONAL and PRIVATE as birth control would
be held back from even considering a political life.

You can thank the local church-rule interpreters here.

That said, I think EVERYONE has heard of
Bernadette Devlin!

http://womenshistory.about.com/od/socialism/p/devlin_bio.htm

[Captain Hilts]

7. They were prohibited from entering pubs until the late '70s, I believe, just as women in the US

in NYState were not allowed to serve on juries until the 1960s.

[sinkingfeeling]

5. Odd. Mary McAleese is the current president of the country and is the second female one!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_McAleese

She is extremely popular.

[bottomtheweaver]

9. Propaganda never sleeps.

:crazy:

[Captain Hilts]

6. The US isn't far behind them. nt

[muriel_volestrangler]

10. Since everyone's bringin up the presidents, this seems to be about parliamentary representation

This is, after all, the Inter-Parliamentary Union, and this appears to be the table:

http://www.ipu.org/wmn-e/classif.htm

Though Ireland is equal 85th in that, not 88th - I don't know why the slight discrepancy. They have 13.3% women in their lower house, and the comparison is for the lower/single house. For reference, the US is 16.8% (70th equal), and the UK 19.5% (58th). Gosh, we're beaten by places like Muslim Pakistan.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

12. Is this due to structural impediments, candidates choices, or the voters?

Numbers without context are meaningless