Government - Book Chapters
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Item Women in politics(Routledge, 2023-08-31) Galligan, Yvonne; Buckley, Fiona; Coakley, John; Gallagher, Michael; O'Malley, Eoin; Reidy, TheresaThis chapter draws attention to gender and representative politics in Ireland. It begins by taking a detailed look at the pattern of women’s representation in social and political decision-making. This is followed by an exploration of the causes of women’s absence from public life and a discussion of the parliamentary representation of women’s interests. The significant progress in relation to women’s lives and women’s political representation in Ireland since the 1990s is highlighted. Yet continuing gendered biases remain, stymieing women’s advancement in public life while simultaneously privileging the male status quo. Furthermore, the need for a more inclusive and diverse politics is made. The chapter concludes with a general assessment of current patterns and future challenges.Item Ireland: Understanding gender quotas as a stepping-stone to gender transformation and empowerment(Palgrave Macmillan, 2022-12-02) Brennan, Mary; Buckley, Fiona; Galligan, Yvonne; Lang, Sabine; Meier, Petra; Sauer, BirgitOstensibly, gender quotas have had a transformative effect on women’s political candidacy and election in Ireland. Since the inaugural “gender quota election” of 2016, the number of women candidates contesting general elections has increased by 90% while the number of women elected has increased by 44%. Yet, in 2022, men outnumber women by a ratio of 3.44:1 in Dáil Eireann (the lower house of parliament). This chapter discusses the implementation of legislative gender quotas in Ireland. It shows that political parties have met the letter of the law in fielding the requisite numbers of women candidates, but questions remain as to the extent to which the spirit of the law has been embraced to transform candidate selection processes within political parties. The chapter argues that legislative gender quotas should therefore be understood as the start rather than the culmination of efforts to achieve gender equality within political parties in Ireland. But beyond political parties, we conclude that the introduction of candidate gender quotas in Ireland flagged a significant shift in political culture, which carried through into later political reforms on the unresolved issue of abortion and the newer issue of marriage equality.Item Bringing people into the heart of constitutional design: the Irish Constitutional Convention of 2012-14(Routledge, 2018-08-14) Farrell, David M.; Harris, Clodagh; Suiter, Jane