Madam, – Susan McKay’s outburst (“Men in suits happy to keep Irish women in pyjamas”, Opinion, August 5th) complaining about the cuts in funding for women’s groups, at a time when every interest group in the country is under siege, is another case of special pleading.
The same old tired clichés are repeated: “men in suits” are to blame. As long as there is anything less than a 50:50 split in the way women are represented in the professions, in politics and in business, particularly at chief executive level, the National Women’s Council of Ireland will continue to claim inequality.
This is to ignore certain life choices of women with children who prefer work choices which allow them to spend more time with their families. A recent study of GPs found that despite an overall gender balance in their favour, just 29 per cent of women GPs are working full-time. The same applies to politics, a profession notorious for its demands on people’s time. The National Women’s Council of Ireland now wants a quota system to put more women in the houses of the Oireachtas.
This ignores the fact that despite many years of effort by political parties to increase participation rates, women have tended to avoid politics and their current representation stands at 13 per cent.
In addition women politicians are themselves divided on the issue. Several prominent women are against a quota system, rightly seeing it as discriminatory and likely to be more damaging to women’s interests in the long run. None of this cuts any ice with the council which continues to shout about inequality – a word that has become a mantra.
Any group in receipt of State aid ought to be more willing to engage in real debate about the claims it makes and to argue its case with more clarity; there are other cases of inequality which are studiously ignored by the council even though they are of equal concern to men and women. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – I’m not sure why Susan McKay objects to men in suits and ties and shiny shoes. If I made myself as presentable as that, my wife would be ever so pleased. – Yours, etc,