Despite political promises of inclusion and anti-discriminatory workplace legislation, few women rise to senior decision-making positions. Anne Dempsey asks some key men why women are still left out of the picture

While one picture isn't always worth a thousand words, a photo montage of the board members of our leading public and private institutions beaming at the camera for their annual reports, highlights how few women there are in the serried male ranks.

"Women in Politics and Decision Making" is the title of a National Women's Council of Ireland conference in Dublin this weekend, and the exhibition of board-room photographs is organised in tandem. Called Put More Women in the Picture , it shows the membership of Cabinet, Dáil, Seanad, State boards, local councils and other publicly-appointed bodies, and graphically illustrates the amount of work still to be done to achieve gender balance.

Nationally, there is 20 per cent women's representation on private boards, and 29 per cent on State boards, with a wide variation within. Many boards have one or two women among dozens of men, some boards, including the Central Bank, pictured above, have no female representation.

A Place at the Table, a study of women's representation in local development structures published this year by Muintearas, found that women elected to local government between 1967-1999 rose from 3 per cent to only 15 per cent, and pinpoints the local authority as a critical nominating body to a range of decision-making national bodies. It is now 11 years since government manifestos began promising 40 per cent representation of women on public boards.

Ask women why they are unequal still in Irish public life and they seem to confirm the need for statutory gender-balancing by describing how difficult it is to breach the local, male-dominated political system where power begins.

Ask men why women don't have a bigger public say and they come up with simpler, darker reasons which may be nearer the truth - and suggest that legislation alone will not be enough.

Don Briggs is managing director of Marketlink, a business development company and a director of Jobshare Recruitment Services. "Women are considered by men in many cases to be unable to cope with stressful situations, to change their mind frequently, and at the same time to be inflexible in terms of their opinion. If you ask a guy to give a general view of a female, he will portray her as an emotional creature.

"There's the whole testosterone bit, the old male ego, the power, it's still there, I think it is valid to say that there is a perception on men's part that they are more powerful, the breadwinners, they are better at business and at making decisions than women, not just business decisions, but all decisions - outside of issues on how food is prepared at home and how the child is cared for.

"Then there's male chauvinism. Despite advances of women in business, I find, in recruitment, that the short list would tend to consist of men, rather than looking at what a woman has to offer. Some men see women as a threat, they are not comfortable with them, and are likely to see the man as more reliable, dependable and suitable.

"It would appear that extremely capable females are allowed to rise to principal officer or middle management, so far and no further. So female equals X number of steps below the top, building in, I suspect, a necessary level of comfort between women and top male management."

Independent TD for Kerry South, Jackie Healy-Rae, believes that women don't get involved in local politics because they are not really interested, but is less sure about whether this dearth of women matters.

"That's a hard question to answer. I can't see a woman busy with home duties able to give the time. I know a man who spent the last four weeks on council business and only got back to his real job yesterday. Between the county council, the health board and very many different committees, you could be busy from eight in the morning until 10 at night, not to mention the funerals you would have to go to. I just can't see a woman with the time to do it."

This kind of view may have been further bolstered with the report yesterday in the Financial Times that Lisa Gordon, the youngest woman ever appointed to the board of a listed company in Britain, will become the youngest to retire from one when she steps down to spend more time with her children. Gordon is leaving her post as corporate affairs director at Chrysalis next month at the age of 36.

She is leaving the broadcasting and music company after eight years because with three children under the age of eight, she decided it was time to do something else - "but it's got to fit in with the children".

Niall Crowley is chief executive of the Equality Authority. "Women are denied workplace promotion and other types of opportunities such as serving on State boards due to a discrimination which underpins very traditional and unhelpful negative stereotyping attitudes to them," he says.

"By and large, the stereotype expects women to conform to a fixed role defined by society as carers, and because women are deemed to be the carers, they are either not allowed have other ambitions, or their other ambitions are not taken seriously. Some men don't think women are as good as men.

"Seeing women as the carers harms men also, and the gender stereotyping traps both women and men into unhappy roles."

Practical consequences, he suggests, flow from this starting point. Much of political and business life is conducted in a way that is not family-friendly, regarding times and lengths of meetings. "But there is an acceptance that this is the way to do business. The result is we all lose out because society is denied access to a whole breadth of talent. I don't see the situation changing without legislation, which not only prohibits discrimination but imposes a duty to promote equality such as gender balancing."

Last July, Willie O'Dea, Minister for State at the Department of Justice Equality and Law Reform, wrote to each minister reminding them of the 40 per cent female representation pledge, and directing them to issue guidelines that women and men be nominated on a 50-50 basis to all State boards, even when only one vacancy exists.

What progress has been made since then? "I gave them until January 2003 to respond, so we will see then whether the situation has improved or not. If people are not complying voluntarily, I will be putting legislation before Cabinet, and I can't see the Government turning it down, particularly as it's stated Government policy of both parties," says O'Dea.

The reply from the Minister for Finance should be particularly interesting, as the board membership of the Central Bank is in his gift. "We have no say. Neither the Governor nor any member of the board has any influence as to the composition of the board," says Central Bank press officer Neil Whoriskey. "We don't make representations, and the first knowledge we have of a new member joining the board is when the name is announced."

Giving women more say is a cause Willie O'Dea believes in. "The present situation is ridiculous. Women are 51 per cent of the population, so asking that they be 40 per cent of State boards is not asking a lot. Ideally they should be 51 per cent or more. I find from working with women that they have more ability and are better at making decisions than men. It is very difficult for women to break into politics at local level because of the traditional male legacy. Why is this? Some men are afraid of women, they feel inferior and it's richly deserved! I'm half joking, but I think men are threatened if women are at the same level.

"This is not unique to our times and throughout history male leaders have felt threatened by women," adds O'Dea. "There were wonderful women in Bolshevik Russia who were making an important contribution, but when Joseph Stalin came to power, he couldn't bear to see this and put a stop to it. Some men fear women. I don't pretend to understand the psychology of any of this, but I see the results all round me in civil, political and business life."

"Women in Politics and Decision Making" with key note speakers Marie Wilson, president of The White House Project and Liz McManus, deputy leader of the Labour Party, takes place at the Burlington Hotel, Dublin 4 on Saturday November 30th, 10.30a.m.- 4.30p.m. More details from National Women's Council of Ireland, tel: 01-6615268.