Politics ‘difficult for women today as it was for the suffragettes’ – Mary McAleese
MARY McAleese has called for women to ‘step up’ and take their political responsibilities seriously.
The former president, who is now a professor of children, law and religion at the University of Glasgow, described life for women in politics as ‘structurally, incredibly difficult’.
At an event to mark the centenary of Irish women winning the right to vote, Mrs McAleese, who served as president of Ireland for two terms from 1997 to 2011, talked about her struggle to get into the world of politics.
The conference, Entitled Politics Needs Women, featured a number of current female politicians who spoke about the difficulties they have in public life.
Mrs McAleese said she faced ‘deeply embedded’ obstacles, and added: ‘Politics is a really tough life. I think it’s structurally incredibly difficult. It’s as difficult in many ways as it was for the suffragettes.
‘What I would be encouraging women to do is not to let all the impediments, all the difficulties get in the way of doing it if they have the passion for it.
‘So many women have wonderful things to say about politics and the idea of galvanising those voices of women and encouraging them to take their political responsibility seriously for the opportunities that politics offers.’
Trained as a barrister and journalist, Mrs McAleese is formerly a professor of criminal law at Trinity College in Dublin and pro-vice chancellor at Queen’s University in Belfast.
She has also completed a doctorate in canon law at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, with the thesis to be converted into two books on children’s rights. She is the first president of Ireland to have come from Northern Ireland.
She continued: ‘I am partly saying [to women] to step up to the plate. I think one of the things we need to do in identifying people who have a particular talent for politics is to encourage them and saying to them you won’t be on your own.
‘There are successes and those successes are measured in the way in which you are able to shape the world around you to the values and the views you think are about the advancement of the human condition.’
Asked if she had any regrets, she answered: ‘Absolutely none.’
President Michael D Higgins, who attended the centenary celebration, described the 1918 election, which gave women the right to vote for the first time, as of ‘fundamental importance’ in
‘Politics is a really tough life’
the country’s history.
Mr Higgins said the election represented all the political tendencies of the day and had a particular importance for the suffragette movement.
Women over the age of 30 and all men over the age of 21 were given the vote.
Previously, all women and most working class men had been excluded.
Minister for Justice and Equality Charlie Flanagan said the event was to remember the people who campaigned for the right for women to vote, saying ‘change is not inevitable’.
He said Ireland has ‘been lucky’ with its female politicians who, he said, have helped shape policy ‘at moments of growth, at moments of crisis’.
He praised women as being the steady hand during times of difficulty and turmoil.
However, he said despite the achievements over the last 100 years, men still constitute almost four out of every five public representatives, adding: ‘Ireland very much remains an unfinished democracy.’
‘While women continue to be so underrepresented in politics, the Government has taken action to change the situation,’ he said, adding that continued support from political parties on all sides is necessary to bring about lasting change.
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