From top: Last week’s comments; Anne-Marie McNally

Gender quotas, self-policing and the beauty of light-touch moderation.

Anne-Marie McNally writes:

Is positive discrimination ever ok? Are gender quotas the balm to all our misogynistic woes? Will we suddenly have a Dáil that is representative of the general population and will women finally have an equal voice in national politics?

As a woman and a woman in politics I’ve been through more than my fair share of debate on this topic over the years. I’ve never personally been a fan of the quota system, finding it a too crude instrument which automatically opens quality female candidates up to accusations of having only been chosen based on their gender.

But then I moved into front-line politics and witnessed first-hand just how much of an old boys club our political system is. Nothing about the current system is conducive to female involvement and that includes the selection processes of traditional parties.

I spent years involved in all-male amateur soccer clubs in this country where I held every position up to and including club chairperson. My gender was never an issue and I rarely experienced misogyny and on the rare occasions I did, it was self-policing – the lads simply would not tolerate it and the offender would be told in no uncertain terms that it was not acceptable. It was based on respect. There was an admiration of my willingness to be involved and that generated respect.

The same is simply not true of the current political system and the older men who see their bastion being infiltrated by women prepared to put their head above the political parapet.

But – and it’s an important but – my experience of the younger self-confident guys who are involved in politics because they feel passionately about things and not just because it’s their father’s seat or some other legacy issue, is that they are delighted to be working alongside strong females who couldn’t be further from ‘token candidates.’

These are the guys whose only interest is in getting things done and working with the best people to make that happen – gender doesn’t come into the equation. That’s when you’ve reached true equality – when your sex is simply not an issue.

Last week, in reply to my column, a commentator suggested that I was merely a ‘pretty paid for mouthpiece’ and to be fair to the person, judging by follow up comments, I don’t even think s/he meant it as a misogynistic comment, it was more just that go-to put down for a woman; ‘ah she’s just a pretty face’ – the very same argument used by those who feel hard done-by in selection conventions.

I was then assured that it was OK because it was a ‘genuine compliment’. So that’s grand then, no problem completely dismissing my work on an issue because you meant it when you called me pretty! I need to get over myself right?

Actually no, do you realise that when a person decides to make themselves public one of the major concerns is ‘what will people say about me?’ As a woman that is amplified a hundred-fold – and don’t get me wrong – I’m only too well aware that women’s harshest critics are most often other women – but when it comes from a male it is almost always with the intention of undermining your contribution to the debate by dismissing you as window dressing.

But here’s the positive – the self-policing I’d experienced in soccer kicked into action on the comment thread last week and people said ‘nope, not acceptable. The guys I am lucky enough to work with in the Social Democrats don’t even stop to consider my gender when we get together to work through an issue and are only too happy to be part of a party with two strong women at the helm. It does not dent their masculinity in any way and why would it?

Given that our political system wasn’t changing by itself I now recognise that gender quotas are a necessary evil to force change but my experience of working with people who are the future of Irish politics assures me that they won’t need to be around for very long because true gender equality is on its way – we just need to lose the deadwood from the system.

Anne-Marie McNally is a political and media strategist working with Catherine Murphy TD and will be a candidate for the Social Democrats in the forthcoming General Election. Follow Anne-Marie on Twitter: @amomcnally

Meanwhile…

Behind you!

Anne-Marie discussing Himself on Tonight with Vincent Browne last night with the host (left) and a nice-looking young lad.

Via Cornelius Markey