Men against gender parity in Cabinet as Dáil quotas are set to rise

... and only half of women support a 50/50 split

A VAST majority of men are against a quota to ensure women make up half the Cabinet, with 70% opposed and just 19% in favour, according to a new figures from an election exit poll.

And women are split evenly on the question, with 44% in favour and 44% against. The remainders in each case answered ‘don’t know’.

The poll question was asked for the Irish Mail On Sunday by Ireland Thinks, which asked 1,512 of voters on election day if they were in favour of a quota to ensure half of ministerial positions were given to women – 58% oppose the quota, 31% agree and 11% say they don’t know.

The majority of Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil, Independents and Labour supporters are opposed.

Sinn Féin, Greens and Social Democrats are evenly split. People Before Profit are the only party with a clear majority in favour of a 50% female quota.

Among Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael supporters, 68% are against a quota; 22% of Fianna Fáil supporters are in favour and 10% don’t know. Another 23% of Fine Gael supporters are in favour and 8% don’t know.

The majority of Labour voters (58%) are in favour, 34% are against and 8% don’t know.

Among Sinn Féin supporters, 45% are against, 41% are in favour and 14% don’t know. There is an even split with the Green Party of 44%/44% in favour and against with 12% unsure. Soc Dems are 45% in favour, 43% are against and 12% unsure.

People Before Profit voters have a clear majority (59%) in favour; 26% are against while 15% are on the fence.

There was a slight increase in female TDs elected in the 2020 general election. In 2016 there were 35 women elected to the Dáil but we now have 36.

Sinn Féin has the biggest female representation, with 13 female TDs elected, Fine Gael has six, Fianna Fáil has four, the Soc Dems have four and the Green Party has two. People Before Profit and Independents for Change have two each and there are four female Independents elected.

Women currently make up just four of the 15 full seats at Cabinet, until the new 2020 team is agreed, some of whom lost their seats in general election 2020.

They are Minister for Business, Enterprise, and Innovation, Heather Humphreys; Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Katherine Zappone,

who lost her seat; Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection, Regina Doherty, who also lost her seat; and Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Josepha Madigan.

Only three out of 19 ministers of state are women: Minister of State with special responsibility for Higher Education, Mary Mitchell O’Connor, who lost her seat; Minister of State for European Affairs,

Helen McEntee, and Minister of State with special responsibility for Health Promotion and the National Drugs Strategy, Catherine Byrne, who also lost her seat.

Commenting on the poll, Director of the National Women’s Council of Ireland, Orla O’Connor, said: ‘It’s pretty clear for us the only significant difference in Dáil elections is when the quota was put in. Up to then we were at 15%, it wasn’t really

‘68% of FG and FF supporters are opposed’

‘We see quotas as an absolute necessity’

‘Gender equality is needed for real freedom’

changing and the difference for women came when there was a quota. For us, we see quotas as an absolute necessity if we want to see gender balance within parliament.

‘Irrespective of the poll, we feel that’s important because women represent over 50% of the population. The poll shows that, yes, more work needs to be in done in terms of getting more information out there about the benefit of quotas, but sometimes positive action should be taken. Positive discrimination, quotas, are temporary measures until they become the norm in society. Sometimes men will have to get on board with equality and that may mean giving up power.’

Ms O’Connor said she wasn’t surprised that there was a fairly even split between women for and against a 50% gender quota. She said: ‘I think there is quite a negative narrative around them. You hear it being tokenism or questions, like “shouldn’t people be there on merit?” There’s an assumption that because men are overwhelmingly in senior positions, they got there due to merit and it’s not the case. They got there because of the unequal structures that are there in our society, that benefit men over women.’

In 2011, the Electoral Amendment Political Funding Bill stated that funding to political parties would be cut unless 30% of their candidates in general elections were female. This is due to increase to 40% in the next decade. Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has previously said he is in favour of Dáil gender parity. ‘Women make up over half our population, half our talent, half our expertise, they cannot continue to be our greatest untapped resource,’ he said. Gender equality is needed so that we can have real freedom for women and men.’