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17 July 2013

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After ‘Lapgate ‘and ‘Fannygate’, why would a woman go into politics?

Senator Kathryn Reilly with young Sinn Féin women activists

‘Racism wouldn’t be tolerated, xenophobia wouldn’t be tolerated, so why are we allowing sexist comments and actions to be tolerated?’

By Senator Kathryn Reilly

SINCE ‘Lapgate ‘and ‘Fannygate’ hit the news, much has been speculated about the normalisation of chauvinism and the objectification of women within our public sphere.

LapgateHerald

In what normal workplace would pulling a co-worker onto your lap in the exercise of your job or indeed using language like “talking out her fanny” in a meeting be tolerated? None.

Immediately, disciplinary procedures, grievance or mediation would be triggered. Not so in the ‘bastion of democracy’ that is Leinster House. Not so in the home of our legislation, the place where those laws to prevent and punish such behaviours are set out, designed and implemented.

Instead, these actions are taken in jest, shrugged off as a bit of craic or comments withdrawn but not apologised for.

So if such behaviours are glided over and those who object to them are said to be taking themselves too seriously, why would a woman want to enter politics?

Of late, there has been much talk of gender quotas, the role of women in public life and, following the constitutional convention on the same issue, bringing respect for women’s equality into the Constitution. But are we in Ireland just talking the talk on these issues without actually walking the walk?

In February, when the Constitutional Convention was meeting to discuss the role of women in the Constitution, Sinn Féin Vice-President Mary Lou McDonald TD welcomed the vote to redress those aspects of the Constitution which have been controversial from the very start and also to make provision for enhanced gender equality guarantees.

“Recent debate on women’s participation in politics has been limited to gender quotas. Sinn Féin strongly supports the introduction of gender quotas but we also realise that this measure will not be the cure-all in tackling women’s under-representation in public and political life.

“Women need definitive constitutional guarantees under law for all violations of our equal rights. We believe that these guarantees would be even more effective in the context of a comprehensive Bill or Charter of Rights which would be more accessible to the average citizen.”

So with all the derogatory talk and actions of the boys’ club that is the Oireachtas, where we have seen no sweeping sanctions or appropriate discipline to curb these masochistic behaviours, is it now time that we have such a Bill or Charter of Rights that is not only available to citizens but to elected representatives to protect our rights and equality guarantees?

Surely we can tackle the issue of under-representation of women in political and public life when we address head-on the dominant cultures that have inhibited and deterred women’s entry into public life.

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It pains me as a young woman to have to listen to some of the talk and skulduggery that goes on in the corridors, and indeed the chambers, of Leinster House – behaviour more usual on a Saturday night in a local pub than the home of our laws and representative democracy.

When you enter politics you prepare yourself for party political conflic – the party debates, flared tempers, rattling the cages, if you will – but there is no space for derogatory comments or reducing parliamentary debate to sexist remarks.

Racism wouldn’t be tolerated, xenophobia wouldn’t be tolerated, so why are we allowing these comments and actions to be tolerated?

You have to have a hard skin to go into politics. It is not an easy decision to make, especially as a woman. But when making the decision to run for election the fear of sexist subjugation should not have to be a consideration. The reality is now quite different. And as the local and European elections loom large in 2014, women are now seeing the political landscape in a new way.

 It is our job as republicans, as Sinn Féin activists, as public representatives, to make sure that these behaviours and actions are stamped out where they exist – that they are not tolerated or passed off in jest.

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