Ita O’Kelly
The absence of women at the top table of pandemic policy highlights the inequality of power in Ireland, writes Ita Kelly
Why is it all men in the Covid crisis?
NIGHT after night, at least three men are ceremoniously wheeled out to the modern version of the pulpit — the nightly press briefing. They tell us of their important deliberations, the grim fatality figures for the day and about how we must conduct our lives during this Government-ordered lockdown.
Their rules are then incessantly and piously endorsed by our health minister, also a man, whose default position is to lecture us.
This is followed up by an endless succession of medico-scientific experts grilled on news and current affairs programmes, often by male presenters, all with their own variations on the theme of Covid-19. And yes, you’ve guessed it. These experts are also men.
As a backdrop, we have three different men squabbling over the spoils of office with talk of a rotating Taoiseach and doors being left open for the position of Tanaiste. It feels like the plot of a dystopian novel from the 1950s rather than the 21st Century. All that is missing is a bishop. Or two.
A decade ago, during the last recession, we had a nightly parade of male economists who became minor celebrities in their own right. Why? Women aren’t interested or au fait with serious matters like finance or economics. Yeah, right.
This is not normal in 2020. It is simply dehumanising to be so overtly ostracised. The question is why have women in Ireland been virtually invisible throughout this pandemic? Where are the whipsmart women who work in STEM? Where are the articulate female commentators? Perhaps busy with Zoom quarantini catch-ups or home-schooling their offspring.
Just imagine for a moment, a world that afforded only women a platform to address and inform the nation. Me neither. As a woman, I wouldn’t want that either because it would be totally unbalanced.
Do I find this malecentric world off-putting? Yes. Does it offer my daughter, aged 15, a modern take on role models in an equal society? No. You cannot be what you cannot see.
The reality is that the almost exclusively male face of the Covid pandemic in Ireland is, in fact, a microcosm of our society. This is how power rolls in Ireland. The lockdown has merely highlighted it and has shown it for how one-sided it truly is.
We have heard much about how well those countries that are led by women have fared during the Covid pandemic. New Zealand, Denmark, Germany, Taiwan,
Iceland and so forth have been cited as shining examples of how women make better leaders. Many have attributed this to the much-vaunted empathy and compassion that all women are supposed to have in spades.
Such nonsense.
Societies that elect women as leaders and treat women as equals are by definition more evolved, more progressive, more inclusive, less conservative and more civilised. As a result, they have a greater collective contribution and this broader perspective allows for more and arguably better complex solutions.
The absence of consideration of childcare provision here during lockdown is very much a case in point. It was treated as an afterthought by our ‘‘experts’’, possibly it was viewed as an issue for women only.
It may come as news to those experts that childcare and schooling form the axis that allows society to function. The narrative that childcare is a woman’s issue rather than a parental one needs to be binned. The anomaly that left women on maternity leave unable to access the wage subsidy is a further example of this mindset.
I don’t believe that women make better leaders per se. I do believe more egalitarian societies reach better outcomes and gender parity plays a significant part in that. It is an imperative in a democracy that women are both seen and heard in a meaningful rather than in just a tokenistic fashion.
When the Marriage Referendum was passed in Ireland, it was hailed as being indicative that Ireland had turned into an equal society. While this result was very welcome, it provided neither equal access to opportunity nor equal pay for women.
Sadly, Ireland is not an equal society yet, as women do not currently play an equal role here. There is a very urgent need to increase the representation of women in all positions of influence here. Having gender parity should be the norm, rather than the exception.
The same holds true of the repeal of the Eighth Amendment allowing for the availability of abortion here. While this outcome was also overdue and welcome, it has delivered no change in terms of the male-heavy power pyramid here.
The old-fashioned command and control model by one homogeneous group is not a recipe for an equal or progressive society.
Women are increasingly on the periphery of society and are in effect bit players. Just 22.5 pc of TDs are female, resulting from General Election 2020. The method by which citizens can enter the political sphere needs to be recalibrated. It must be changed from being a boys’ club to being a club for all.
Men who agree to appear on all-male current affairs programme ‘‘manels’’ are also part of the problem, including those who profess to be feminists. Such men need to simply decline these invitations. That is called solidarity. It would soon eliminate this offensive practice.
Are we going backwards in terms of gender equity in Ireland? Quite possibly. The ‘‘Great Pause’’, as our British friends are quaintly calling it, might well be the time to set matters right by women. The days of us being lectured to by men from any type of pulpit are thankfully over.
We must have a Covid Recovery plan that allows women to contribute as equal partners. And we need women from all walks of life and not just the corporate well-heeled brigade.
Sisters, if there is no seat at the top table, perhaps the time has come for us to bring our own chairs.