Can a new initiative increase the number of women on State boards, where previous efforts have failed? Anne Dempsey reports

A story is told of a male and female colleague walking to their cars after each had presented a conference paper. "You were very good," she said, and waited for him to return the compliment. When he didn't, she asked how he thought she did - and he told her in great detail, pointing out all her mistakes.

"There are gender differences in communication, particularly, for example, when asking for feedback. Women see this as a request for affirmation and support, while men see it as asking for information and give it accordingly, even if shooting straight from the hip," says Dr Kate MacKenzie Davey, an organisational psychologist at Birkbeck College of the University of London. She has recently surveyed successful women graduates and her conclusions, entitled: "How to succeed at work: stitching people up or being good" seem to represent a stark choice. Some interviewees found the way to climb the corporate ladder was to perfect their skills at back-stabbing (which some men may see just as a good career move). Others saw office politics as time wasting and destructive.

"Many women judge office politics as clearly separate from being good at your job. Some see these games as immoral and unkind. However, it may undermine this high moral ground to also realise that women may not be so good at the political game- playing as men are!" says MacKenzie Davey.

So should we be tackling both the sheepishness of the sheep and the wolfishness of the wolves? Examining culture differences is particularly relevant in the light of an initiative by Willie O'Dea, the newly appointed Minister for State at the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, to increase the representation of women on State boards.

"Since I took on this job, I've been reading myself into it," he says, "and one of the areas needing attention is improved gender balance on State boards to achieve 40 per cent participation of women. I am writing to each minister directing them to issue guidelines that women and men be nominated on a 50-50 basis to all State boards. This means that if there is only one vacancy - as often happens - a man and a woman must be nominated for it."

His announcement has been welcomed by the National Women's Council of Ireland (NWCI), which recently launched a campaign to increase the proportion of women in such roles. However, they feel exhortation is not enough.

"Since 1991, a government guideline has recommended a minimum of 40 per cent of appointees to State boards be women, but in more than 10 years, ministers have consistently failed to implement their own guidelines," says the council's communications manager, Anne O'Donnell.

"We believe that the minister should immediately bring forward legislation to oblige government ministers to adhere to Government policy. Forty per cent of the workforce is women, a huge percentage have something to contribute and are available to contribute. We see it as a human rights issue, there is no need for tokenism." O'Dea accepts that gender-balancing legislation has worked in other EU countries, and says he has not closed the door on similar legislation here.

In Ireland, the glass ceiling that rising women hit has been well documented. Women are still unequal at work, less likely than men to hold senior positions, and more likely to work in jobs characterised by high demand, low control - such as a telephone operators, counter clerks or on the assembly line. The Government's draft National Plan for Women confirms women account for only 3 per cent of managing directors and 9 per cent of senior civil servants.

A Place at the Table, a study of women's representation in local development structures, published earlier this year by the research and training organisation Muintearas, provides some explanation. It found that women elected to local government between 1967-1999 only rose from 3 per cent to 15 per cent, yet the local authority is a critical nominating body to a range of decision-making bodies. The poor representation of women in local politics, due to its domination by a male-dominated party political system is, the report concludes, significant in perpetuating the status quo.

Mary Anne Beatty, the report co-ordinator, says, "We looked at women in Connemara, Cork, Longford and Ballymun and while there were regional variations, many made similar points. The need for legislation to enforce the achievement of the 60:40 quota emerged strongly. One or two women on a committee does not always work. Women talked again and again about trying to get their point across but of just being talked down. One woman said she finally left and went home to mind her children where she felt she was at least doing some good."

Carol Baxter, the National Women's Council's policy manager, echoes the point that token representation can be counterproductive. "We have about 29 per cent women's representation on State boards and about 20 per cent on private boards, health boards and regional tourism authorities. But this hides a very wide variation. For example, a number of bodies have no female representation - including Bord Gais, Dublin Transportation Office, Bord na gCon.

"Many boards have one or two women swamped by men. The National Lottery board has one woman and 14 men, only one in five of board members in An Post and Teagasc are women. In Teagasc, the relative lack of women is having an impact in real terms, such as no training programmes geared to women, who are such an important part of the rural economy. We believe Teagasc has a blind spot about this.

"In general terms, a few women totally outnumbered may have difficulty in having their voices heard, particularly if they are not getting any support round the table." At present, she says, the same people serve repeatedly on boards, drawn from a predominantly male pool.

"They are often highly skilled, but that does not mean they are the only people. There is a cohort of women out there but we need to look at new ways of finding them."

Lack of support systems such as child care as well as inflexible work schedules are among the reasons offered for women's low participation in public life. Instead of insisting women change to fit the system, it is now being suggested that the system needs to change to fit the lives of women - and men. Baxter agrees that proportionally fewer women than men put themselves forward in business, which merits, she says, examination not exclusion. "Women with children don't want to make it in the traditional male world if that means adhering to long hours and working late into the night. The whole culture needs to change. We need more and better family-friendly policies, and more protection and recognition to part-time work and job sharing which would not see these as a bar to promotion within a company."

Willie O'Dea believes women have a different voice to offer at the decision-making table, a voice relatively unheard. "I have worked on boards with fantastic women. Women do bring a different perspective. I won't be popular with the men for saying this, but I think women are capable of taking a clearer, more rounded view of things, and are able to take in the bigger picture in making decisions in ways that men cannot always do. It's quite bizarre that half the population is not properly represented, it's like picking a football team and not using all the talent you have."