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THERE ARE NOW more women in the lower house of our national parliament than ever before.
In all, 35 women were elected to Dáil Éireann over the weekend – taking 22.3% of the seats being contested, and now composing 22.2% of all deputies.
That’s a whopping 40% increase from the previous record of 25 women elected in 2011, composing 15% of Dáil Éireann at the time.
Many observers have pointed to this rise as being directly attributable to the introduction of gender quotas, which allow for a party’s state funding to be cut by half unless 30% of their general election candidates are women (and 30% are men).
However, a closer analysis of the numbers suggests this conclusion might be a bit of an oversimplification, and shows that – despite a massive increase in female candidates – parties subject to gender quotas only elected four extra women.
First, an overview.
There were 35 women elected to the Dáil this year - 40% more than 2011, and the highest in Irish history.
Remarkably, 19 of the women elected this weekend are entering the Dáil for the first time, and 14 were first-time candidates.
Two women decided not to contest (Olivia Mitchell and Sandra McLellan), and seven lost their seats: Áine Collins, Joanna Tuffy, Ann Phelan, Lucinda Creighton, Michelle Mulherin, Ciara Conway and Anne Ferris.
Gabrielle McFadden, who replaced her late sister Nicky in a by-election in 2014, also lost her seat.
With her re-election, the Social Democrats’ Róisín Shortall becomes the longest continuously-serving woman in the new Dáil, having won every election since 1992.
In November, she will surpass former Tánaiste Mary Coughlan and become the second-longest serving female TD in history, after Mary Harney, who held her seat from 1981 until 2011.
There have also been several major breakthroughs and interesting developments across the country, in this election.
In particular, there has been something of a revolution in Galway.
Up until this weekend, only two women had ever represented the county – Fianna Fáil’s Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, who held a seat in Galway West from 1975-1997, and Fine Gael’s Brigid Hogan-Higgins, who sat in various Galway constituencies from 1957-1977.
This election added three.
This map shows how things have changed since five years ago.
Although female representation has faded in certain areas – most notably Cork – it has extended in the West.
In all, 25 of 40 constituencies (62.5%) now have at least one female representative in the national parliament, as opposed to 22 of 43 (51%) in 2011.
However, the increased number of female TDs is mainly accounted for by intensified representation elsewhere, with several constituencies doubling their number of female TDs.
One constituency – Dublin South-Central – now has three female TDs out of four: Catherine Byrne, Joan Collins and Bríd Smith.
The new Dáil still ranks 17th out of 27 EU member states, when it comes to female representation in the main house of parliament, according to our analysis of figures from the Inter-Parliamentary Union, and we rank 75th in the world.
Before last weekend, however, we ranked 22nd in the EU and 111th in the world.
Did gender quotas achieve this?
This will be one of the main questions emerging from Election 2016, and will no doubt be studied in great detail over the lifetime of the 32nd Dáil.
However, there are a few observations we can make at this stage.
Of the 551 candidates at this election, 163 were women, a ratio of 29.6%, well up from 2011, when 86 of 566 (15.1%) were women.
But while the number of female candidates and TDs increased significantly, successful women only made up 21% of the 163 female candidates this year, as opposed to 29% (25 of 86 candidates) taking a seat in 2011.
That year, female candidates had almost the exact same success rate as their male counterparts.
This suggests that, as was predicted, it will likely take one or two more election cycles for the massively expanded female candidate base to translate into massively increased Dáil representation.
This will be especially true if women selected to run in 2016 retain their local council positions, and are chosen by party conventions to run again in the next general election, when voters will only be more familiar with them and their achievements.
In the context of gender quotas, the level of female success from each party will no doubt be closely scrutinised in the coming weeks.
By far the most striking phenomenon, in that respect, was the performance of Fianna Fáil, who went from electing no women whatsoever in 2011, to electing 6.
Notably, Fine Gael did not elect any more women this time, although the reduction of their seat total from 76 to around 50 means women will make up a higher proportion of their TDs.
Sinn Féin tripled their female contingent in the Dáil, from two to six.
However, not every party or grouping was subject to gender quotas, so we have to drill even deeper to see what their effect might have been.
Let’s look at the parties who receive state funding, and so were subject to the new gender quota rules – Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil, Labour, Sinn Féin, and AAA/PBP.
In 2011, these parties had 23 women elected to the Dáil, between them.
In 2016, that number is 27 – so only four more female TDs were elected by parties subject to gender quotas.
However, there were four defections between 2011 and 2016, which lowered the main parties’ base of female incumbents.
Róisín Shortall left Labour for the Social Democrats, Clare Daly left the Socialist Party and thus the AAA/PBP umbrella, Joan Collins left PBP, and Lucinda Creighton left Fine Gael.
Creighton lost her seat though, so the effect of her defection from Fine Gael is somewhat moot, in terms of distribution of female TDs between parties subject to gender quotas, and those not subject to them.
Of the 10 extra women elected in 2016, Independents added three, the Social Democrats added two, and one came from the Green Party.
Three female TDs were elected through by-elections, for which gender quotas didn’t apply – Helen McEntee for Fine Gael in 2013, Ruth Coppinger for AAA/PBP in 2014, and Gabrielle McFadden for Fine Gael in 2014.
McFadden lost her seat over the weekend.
It has been argued that the number of women elected this year would have been even higher, were it not for the overall collapse of Labour (who lost five female TDs), and the retirements of Sandra McLellan and Olivia Mitchell.
However, the same logic must also be applied to the 2011 general election, when 6 female TDs decided not to contest, and amid the devastation of Fianna Fáil, 8 women from the governing parties lost their seats.
By a similar rationale, this contributed to the relatively low base from which female representation has increased since 2011.
In any event, we can only fully analyse the actual trends, rather than counter-factuals.
This minimal increase in female TDs among the parties subject to gender quotas should also be viewed in light of the fact that the number of their female candidates grew significantly.
While the number of their candidates grew by 60% from 58 to 93, the number of their TDs only grew by 16%, from 23 to 27, as shown in the chart above.
First-timers
It would be difficult (and unfair) to assess whether a given female candidate was selected by the party simply in order to meet overall gender quotas.
There were several instances of messy selection conventions, female candidates added to constituency tickets at the last minute, lawsuits, and a lot of outrage.
As a more neutral and objective proxy, however, we can measure the performance of women selected by the main parties for the first time.
This is particularly striking because the party had no female incumbents going into the election, and it had been suggested they might struggle most to reach the 30% required by the new legislation.
The overall 20% success rate for first-time female candidates compares to 32% among male first-time candidates.
So while overall, the number of female TDs shot up, this doesn’t necessarily mean gender quotas were entirely responsible.
Independents and parties not subject to gender quotas accounted for 7 out of 10 extra women in the Dáil.
But while the introduction of gender quotas only preceded a net gain of two TDs from the parties subject to them, this doesn’t tell the full story either.
There were three defections from the main parties, and an astonishing increase in the number of first-time female candidates elected, from 6 to 12.
This suggests that gender quotas absolutely had a role within the main parties.
In particular, Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin appear to have been rewarded by the electorate for selecting young, new female candidates.
That trend could mean the process of choosing women for the next general election might not be as messy and fraught with resistance as it was this time.
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I recently applied for Dublin bus through a friend and was informed that a male driver on a provisional licence cannot be accepted for training however a female with a provisional licence can apply. The worlds gone made with equality that the best people are being over looked.
What you’ve described above is certainly discrimination. I do think that these women are there on merit though
Whats going on with nama i heard there is trouble in the air
I’ve applied to Dublin Bus about 6 times so far. Thats a job for the ‘privileged’ mate. Give up. If you don’t have a “friend” to get you in, you don’t stand a chance. Its not about male or female – its a jobs for friends situation.
I do have a friend high up it was the lack of a full licence that stopped me from progressing however if I was female it would be no issue. I think I’ll be gender fluid for a while.
“the world’s gone mad with equality” you’re just upset everything isn’t about you anymore. you still have a better chance at being a TD or frankly most jobs in general. this upsets you, but the fact that it’s more difficult for women to get into certain jobs, or women are discouraged from them, doesn’t matter to you.
I would have thought a full license would be a minimum anyway before they let you at a bus, regardless of gender.
So the person best suited for the job shouldn’t get it because of their sex ? If you have the better qualifications you shouldn’t be turned away because someone less qualified has a vagina.
@Leighanna so you openly support discrimination? Because that’s what a gender quota is.
That is not equality.
There is no such thing as “positive” discrimination. All discrimination is negative. Someone is always unfairly treated. Some 3rd level colleges in the United States have lesser entry requirements for African Americans to rebalance the college campuses to reflect the ethnic diversity of the state. They call is affirmative action. Problem is, lots of students get turned down and they feel badly treated. Men who want to work for Dublin Bus will lose out here too.
People say we NEED more women in politics to more accurately represent the people of the country. Are they saying men can’t represent women? That’s ludicrous. We want our politicians to look after the rights of children and to provide protection to animals etc.. Are those people suggesting we should elect children and farm animals to the Dáil so everyone is more accurately represented?
As a female software developer working for one of the globes major technology companies I’m under no illusion as to why I was accepted when many of my graduating colleagues with the same qualification were not. I’ve spoken to a recruiter here about it and they’re quite open on the company policy of diversification for a more pleasant work environment and a representative image. It’s not a nice thought to think you’re getting ahead in your career because you’re part of an underrepresented demographic but at the same time the media and public are quick to tarnish companies if their workforce is too old/white/male.
It definitely works both ways though, male primary school teachers are very sought after.
A job should go to the best person that’s qualified for it , regardless of gender .
What if YOU are not the best person for the job?
Then you shouldn’t get the job
Alan you obviously weren’t the best person for the job, you don’t even have a full licence. And by the sounds of it you couldn’t even be bothered getting one to secure a job, so not exactly enthusiastic!
Fiona, you’re missing his point. He wasn’t saying he was the best person in the world for the job. No need to be nasty. He was just saying he may have got it if he was a woman.
I’ll have you know I am working hard to get my licence but unfortunately it’s a money racket, €450 euro for 12 lessons and the exam I won’t even mention the insurance. But a female in the same position as me will get it, my point is that is not right and it is blatant discrimination. As long as it directed at men it’s not a big deal but if the tables where turned it would be a different story.
Can we have gender quotas for universities because the Feminists are taking over in there.
Jesus get a full licence before driving a bus
Totally missed the point lol
Listen I agree I enquired through a friend if I got my full licence would I be able for a job within the company. I got told no but I was told if I was female with my current provisional I’d be accepted.
Hopefully this comment will go where it was intended, sry if it doesn’t.
Alan, you should make a formal complaint to the company using an es1 form and if you do not recieve a satisfactory response within a month fill out an es3 form and take them to the equality tribunal, it doesn’t cost much.
I just checked the 2014 DB application, it clearly asks if you have a FULL drivers licence. There isn’t an option to apply with provisional (not even for women! ). That’s ridiculous. You should fact check your friend.
I think electing someone because of a quota rather than because they’re the best person for a role is quite sexist in of itself..
People should just vote for who they think is the best candidate, regardless of their gender.
Agree Shane, unfortunately the main parties have always made it difficult for women to run for election. Personally the country would be better off, if there were more females in government (assuming they are capable), unlike some men who should not be allowed within 10k of the Dail.
Except it’s not electing people based on gender since that’d be undemocratic. The quotas merely apply to how many candidates need to be put forward, the election process remains unchanged. All the quotas mandate is that the major parties need to provide a certain number of option to the voting public of male and female candidates. It’s still up to the public to choose who’s best for the job.
The gender of the people I voted for didn’t enter my head. It was more about what they represented and if I believed them TBH.
I’ve just scanned through the pictures. There’s 8 of them I’d ride. I’m fairly fussy when it comes to…
Im very much against gender quotas, a woman should be in the Dail because she is worthy of the position (as should men) and not because she needs to fill a magic number.
I’m all for more women in the Dail but on merit. I think the quota undermines the women elected and some will see them as tokens.
These women are there on merit. The electorate didn’t have to elect them
Parties were required to put women on the ticket, you were not required to vote for them. If they got elected it was because the public wanted to vote for them, not because they had to. Voters could have chosen all men regardless, and yet they didn’t.
Parties were required to put women on the ticket, you were not required to vote for them. If these women got in, they got in because the electorate voted for them. They are anything but “token tds”
but this means that somehow, men are several times more “worthy” than women, given so many more men are in. do you really think this is the case? or maybe there’s another factor at play here. men don’t have 3-4 times more “merit” than women.
You mean it’s not all about them?
Who exactly are these superstar male TD’s that missed out because of the quota system? Can we get a list to check on all this talent that’s slipped through our fingers?
John Perry, my heart went out to him haha all the fuss and still couldn’t manage it. Oozed entitlement. Don’t let the door hit you there John
Brilliant!
Jeez
On the one hand we’re trying to rid the system of nepotism, cronyism, parochialism etc etc
while on the other women are looking for a free ride…..
Gender quotas are a corruption of the democratic process.
Thankfully the Irish electorate aren’t buying.
but women don’t get a “free ride”. only a quarter of TDs are women and that’s still too much for you?
there’s already something corrupting the democratic process if this is the case. something is making it harder for women to assume these positions or telling them they shouldn’t.
Oran is very anti-women Leighann I wouldn’t take any notice.
How is it corrupting the democratic process Oran. You can still vote for whoever the hell you like. No one’s forcing you to vote for a woman, and guessing by your consistent 1950s conservative views spouted all over this site, I’m guessing you exercised that right not to vote for a woman in the GE.
Parties put forward who they want to. Before these quotas, you were limited in who you could vote for in elections by who the parties chose to put forward, after these quotas, you’re still limited in who you can vote for in elections by who the parties chose to put forward.
There’s no quotas for independents Oran, why don’t you run. Since you’ve stated before that the majority of Irish people agree with your views, I’m sure you’d be a shoe in.
I voted for Grace O’Sullivan in the European elections.
I’ve voted for women in the past and will do so again. But I won’t vote for a woman who’s been fast tracked into the system through a gender quota.
If a woman is worthy of a vote then she should stand on her own two feet like the male candidates and not be expecting a favourable position just because she’s a woman.
Me?
I’m far too humble.
I do a lot of good work around the parish but prefer not to broadcast my endeavours.
It’s the Christian in me I guess.
I don’t understand why people object to women being put on the ticket, the electorate have the last word regarding who gets elected. The notion that you get on the ticket by merit only is a joke, that’s down to local politicking, there would be very few women going forward if we were to wait for that system to select them.
Meh, I’d be angry at gender quotas for politicians if the bar wasn’t set so low by all the lads
We know for a fact that the politicians we have are not there because they are the best at their job.
I don’t believe in quotas but maybe having more women in government will encourage more to run in the future
My favourite was Ruth Beider Ginsberg’s response to being asked when she thought there would be enough women on the US Supreme Court. She said that a lot of people are shocked when she answers “Nine”, but that there were nine men since forever and nobody ever batted an eyelid.
Quotas are a tricky subject since at face value it is easy to dismiss them as reverse and/or so-called “positive” discrimination. But it’s impossible to divorce the current reality of legal, literal equality from the centuries of inequality that preceded it.
The removal of the last laws that allowed for legal discrimination based on gender, race, sexuality .etc and the codification of equality laws as they stand now did not mean that overnight the society that had lived under unequal systems disappeared. People didn’t wake up one morning and think “Hey, women can vote and run for government now, I was wrong about them all along.”
I’m not coming down in support of quotas here, because we’ve only just started, it’s too early to tell how they’ll affect things, but they have been shown to improve gender gaps elsewhere.
Besides, at the end of the day, the quotas only apply to candidates, it’s still in the hands of the voting public to decide who they want to put into the Dáil.
Problem there Bryan. In Waterford Fianna Fail only selected one candidate. Because of the quota, that candidate was female. Voters voted Waterford who wished to vote Fianna Fail could only vote for a woman! Voters’ choice is severely limited by candidate list. When Political parties are restricted as to the quality of the candidate they can choose because they must fulfill some fictional nominal number, we all lose.
Are you outraged because you could only vote for a woman? Are you outraged when you can only vote for a man?
The big question is, are these women any more qualified for the job or are they all just a bunch of teachers too?
Well I’m not a sexist yet but am willing to change. From the 31th Dail we had Roisin Shorthall who stood up to cronyism and corruption and Heather Humphrey’s who did what the Taoiseach asked and got McNulty onto the IMMA board “on merit” both were reelected for the 32nd Dail. At least women in politics with a moral compass have a progressive friendly party to join if the can’t stomach the inbred cronyism ingrained in the large parties. Who knows the SD could double there numbers when the 32nd finishes.
Mulherin did not get the Kenyan vote out !!!
After 30 years with an arse like Mary Harney’s wedged into it, I wouldn’t think there’s much left of that seat.
Under a quarter and still less than the EU average. Not much to be proud of. Until it’s roughly 50/50 we can’t pretend to be in any way equal. How/when we get there is another matter of course.
For people that think that’s “equality gone mad”, why exactly do men deserve so much more power than women? You can’t answer this without falling back on sexist answers like men are simply more “ambituous”.
We should seek equal opportunity, not enforce equal representation.
“Equality gone mad” might be the most telling quote I’ve ever read on this comments section.
If everyone was getting in based on merit 1) We’d have equal numbers of TDs, there is no non-sexist way to deny this, 2) The country wouldn’t be in the shitter.
Well wouldn’t you say, whether rightly or not, that our society does have traditional gender roles, with gender imbalance across almost every profession, so gender disparities doesn’t necessarily have any relation at all to merit, and that’s hardly a sexist way of denying it
But that being said, I agree our TDs definitely aren’t the most deserving people of the responsibilities they have, not by a long shot
Women of the Dail please Note: – No Irish Political Party will be given a majority to Govern because they:-
- pass regressive tax laws (e.g. LPT, WT, Car Tax, IT) to max the tax take from ordinary taxpayers (and fail to allow for inability to pay)
- use the whip system to disenfranchise voters whose elected TDs cannot represent their interests over the Party.
- use Revenue to take the LPT from pensioners Medical Expenses refunds when they cant keep up the tax payments
- use Attachment Orders to force pensioners to pay the Water Tax when they cant afford to pay.
- force pensioners off the road with Car Tax of €710 p.a. while those who can afford new cars get off with low car tax of €280. (UK MPs refused to pass the obscene Car Tax Law in 2004 … a functioning Democracy)
- ignore FTT introduction (11 EU countries have FTT – tax on the Banks)
Political Parties are just private clubs, financial predators who max your taxes like landlords max your Rent and Banks max your Debt.
Revenue never carry out attachment orders on people without a regular source of income. If people can’t afford to pay and the sum is large they’re given a judgment mortgage on their property instead. The notion of an old person on a state pension having their bank account attached for a few hundred euro is pure scaremongering.
@Rochelle: No scaremongering. I can verify that LPT is taken from pensioners Medical Expense refunds. Joan Burton stated clearly that Labour planned to use Attachment Orders to force the collection of the Water Tax. TDs judging to take water tax from Family Homes … start planning for 250,000 on the streets!.
Adam Smith Canons of Taxation 1790 .. you cant pass regressive tax laws .. all taxation is ultimately by consent and must allow for inability to pay .. called Progressive Taxation. Irish Political Parties slow learners … evidence .. GE16.
They said attachments on income, never attachments on savings.
Except for a few exceptions(Rosin) these women are some of the biggest gob$hites in the Dail. Many of them play on their gender and it gets then no where because no one cares.
Why is Moan Burton’s picture among the women TD’s ?
Eh because she was elected. Don’t know how but she was.
They got in based on their ability to get elected. If they don’t perform, they shouldn’t be back.
That stands for male or female TDs.
Its hard to measure the success of quotas in an election that was so divided and there was no one dominate party. Of the parties that made big loses, chances are they were lucky to get one candidate from each constituency. That would be the more established politician which would typically be male. If FG ran a female candidate in my constituency in 2011 chances are she would have been elected but this year they made such big losses she missed out. Where parties made small gains The established politicians got elected, which again would be typically male. But looking at parties that made bigger gains (Fianna fail) yeah the established politicians got elected…but also a lot first time female candidates for fianna fail got elected. So where there was space for newer candidates to get elected, women did pretty well. If this had been a year where there was one dominant party and constituencies were typically electing more than one candidate from a party, and therefore wouldn’t be such competition between established politicians and newer ones, women may have done very well this election.
Alan, you should make a formal complaint to the company using an es1 form and if you do not recieve a satisfactory response within a month fill out an es3 form and take them to the equality tribunal, it doesn’t cost much.
I do not think it worked that well, you had nearly twice as many women as the the last election, but only 4 extra TDs
So sorry to see that Wicklow constituency is now a female representative-free zone.
Well thats what happens when the likes of FF send no hope candidates like Cuffe from other constituencies to fill these quotas knowing well they will just lose.
If the system of getting on the ballot was all about competency and ability, i might have a problem with quotas, but like everything in Ireland its all about who you know rather than ability.
I just hope these women have more bottle than Joan & won’t turn a blind eye if in Gov. when the promises they made are not being delivered. The day of reckoning has come for most of those TDs who turned their back on the people who elected them. If you cannot / will not deliver, don’t promise.
I was very disappointed to see that Wicklow is now a female representative-free zone — in a 5-seat constituency.. That should please the misogynists out there.
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