Need for change is strong 100 years on
RIGID HIERARCHIES IN POLITICS NEED TO SUPPORT MORE WOMEN
IRISH and British Suffragette movement leaders Emmeline and Sylvia Pankhurst and Hanna Sheehy Skeffington would urge political leaders to do more to help women enter politics.
That’s according to their two granddaughters who spoke about their legacy and women’s political representation 100 years on at a special seminar in the Model on Monday.
The seminar focused on 100 years of women’s votes and was organised by the regional branch of the national campaign for equal political representation, 50:50 Northwest.
“In terms of the Irish situation here, the message for me was the parallels with how difficult it is, how slow it is, in numerical considerations the figures are lower in Ireland but if you forget issues of numbers and start talking about numbers and norms and ideas, it’s the same story globally of so much that needs to be done.
“It’s the spirit of needing to come together, to campaign together about looking at the practical and economical considerations for women, the constraints around the social norms, the needing to take care of family and kids, food, all the practical constraints that stop women from coming to those positions and staying in them.”
What would her grandmother Sylvia be staying today?
“She’d be saying ‘Come on, we can do better than this,” said Dr Pankhurst, who will take part in #AskHerToStand Day in Westminister this Wednesday 21st November to mark the centenary of the Qualification of Women Act which enabled women to stand for Parliament, for the first time.
“It’s the hierarchical system, that suits men and the climate of support for women is not there,” said Micheline Sheehy Skeffington to The Sligo Champion.
“We had somebody here today who said their party’s priority was to get seats. That was said today by a man. You’re battling against it,” said Dr Sheehy Skeffington.
She said her grandmother would be a “bit surprised” at the current state of women in politics 100 years on.
“She’d say ‘Go for it’. We need more women in politics. There’s a lot more that can do it,” she said.