Sarah Harte: Cabinet appointments compound the gender imbalance in Leinster House

Surrounded by candles, with the gas camping stove out waiting for the storm, we exchanged a glance then looked back at the television, eyeing the rows of dark suits and muttering. Gender balance my foot. 

For instance, why wasn’t Mary Butler elevated to a senior minister post instead of given the consolation prize of Government whip? Hildegarde Naughton was moved sideways to become a super Junior minister, leaving only three senior female Ministers. So, now we’re down one senior female minister since the last Cabinet.

Of the clearest indications of institutional sexism is the lack of gender diversity among political leaders. A Bloomberg analysis published in December described the Oireachtas as the “worst for gender diversity in Western Europe.” 

We have a representation of just over 25% of female parliamentarians, compared to the Western European average of 37%, with only 44 seats out of 174 going to women in last November’s election.

The quota system introduced in 2016 has achieved some small progress in that more women stood for election than ever before, with the number of women elected edging up from 22% to 25%, but it’s hardly reason to crack open the fizz. 

The question remains whether female candidates get the proper campaign support to break through or if there could be a tokenism element, with women being added late to tickets to meet gender quotas and avoid fines.

Let’s look at Cork County as an example. Eighty-six candidates stood for the General Election, comprising 31 females. Despite an increase in females standing last year since 2020, with the number of potential female TDs doubling from 15 to 31, only one female TD was elected. 

Holly Cairns stood for a small party with none of the three mainstream parties, FF, FG, and Sinn Féin, managing to elect a female candidate in Cork County, the biggest county in Ireland. What does that say?

Helen McEntee, who has just moved to the Department of Education, knows all about sexism because she has come in for much criticism, some of it entirely legitimate but some of it with a sexist hue.

Willie O'Dea, no stranger to controversy, claimed late last year that Helen McEntee was the “worst Minister for Justice in the history of the State”. McEntee got things wrong during her tenure, as all ministers do, but no other Minister for Justice has ever been as strong on the issue of domestic violence. Just ask those who have worked in the field for decades. 

She ensured that this country's most significant human rights issue, blighting thousands of lives daily, steepled up the policy agenda. Maybe her achievements were minimised because the people she potentially helped were primarily women and children. 

Or perhaps the message isn’t getting through what a huge issue this is. Or maybe we still culturally minimise violence against women, and it just isn’t seen as big-ticket enough to grab the headlines or the imagination.

The often poll-topping O’Dea, a former Minister for Defence, once winked down the barrel of a gun for a photo while supposedly combating crime arising from gangland feuds. 

More seriously, he was also forced to pay libel damages to a Sinn Féin councillor, Maurice Quinlivan, for defamatory remarks during the Brothelgate affair. Questions arose about the contents of an affidavit he swore, ultimately forcing him to resign.

As a random example of a bad Minister for Justice, let’s take Sean Doherty, a Fianna Fáil Minister for Justice who lasted less than one year in the job when he oversaw the tapping of the phones of two journalists, Bruce Arnold and Geraldine Kennedy, and later brought Charles Haughey down.

As a well-respected barrister, Jim O’Callaghan acknowledged three weeks ago that domestic violence is a major problem here and one we must research. It will be interesting to see what he does in this area, particularly with regard to the court system, which is a nightmare for victims of domestic violence. 

He now takes over from McEntee but appeared to claim last November that many of the proposals during her term in government came from him. Although he rejected the idea that these comments were sexist, McEntee responded that she knows what it feels like for men to claim women's work, as do many other women. 

Around that time there was also a suggestion that Fianna Fáil’s James Browne took a swipe at McEntee on the radio referencing her maternity leaves. Micheál Martin later said Mr Browne had been "completely misinterpreted". 

Many working women will be familiar with the implication that once a woman gives birth, her mind is no longer on the job. Overall, Fianna Fáil needs to improve its image regarding how it treats women because the cracks in the façade are a reminder that they haven’t moved far enough beyond Albert Reynold’s infamous 1992 comment, “Sure, that’s women for you,” in response to heckling from Nora Owen.

And although Simon Harris is on record as having not only defended McEntee but also remarked about the sexist undertone in some of the commentary about her and other female politicians, Fine Gael is not exempt from the perception that institutionalised male incumbents get the nod ahead of talented women.

Of course, female politicians should be criticised like their male counterparts, but women voters have a nose for commentary with an implicitly sexist bias because sexism is something we are well acquainted with.

Profound misogyny defines many young women’s experiences, but you meet hostile sexists throughout your life with an ingrained antipathy towards women and a firm belief in male superiority. You also meet benevolent sexists protective towards us, who think we’re bad at maths and terrible drivers and praise us for our traditional gender roles.

The benevolent sexists aren’t as dangerous, with far less chance of being sexually assaulted by them. Still, they do subtly harmful damage, elevating and edifying us while, in reality, limiting us. 

I’ve found, too, that benevolent sexists are often not the sharpest blades in the drawer, and it can be extraordinarily tedious to listen to their theories, like why women are more connected to nature or how it’s unladylike to drink from a pint glass or why females don’t make good leaders due to their gentler nature. 

Realistically, both types of sexism are just different sides of the same coin.

We need more women in senior Cabinet positions as part of the governing apparatus so that women can equally influence policies and legislation that will impact their lives in the way McEntee did with domestic violence and be part of building a modern nation.

Leinster House is a workplace with asymmetrical gender power arrangements, and it’s a terrible example. This January, many women on both sides of the Atlantic have spoken about their disillusionment, frustration, and worry about what lies ahead for women’s rights and representation. 

The Cabinet appointments have compounded that.