Sir, – The candidate selection process within political parties is demonstrably not a problem, as evidenced by the fact that far fewer woman contest as Independents where this supposed problem area is absent. If too few women contest elections when being a candidate is guaranteed, then candidate selection can’t be the problem area.
If a woman is unable to face her fellow party members at an open convention then how will she face the public, most of whom won’t agree with her? If someone lacks the courage of their convictions to contest when the odds are against them and the situation is grim, then when the protection of a gender quota is removed what will sustain them?
Representative politics demands an Athena, a Granuaile, a Marie Curie; not wallflowers and shrinking violets. If a person needs to wait for someone else to ask them to dance, then perhaps the electoral dance isn’t for them. – Yours, etc,
DANIEL SULLIVAN,
Dublin 2.
A chara, – I welcome David Walsh's letter (March 14th) clarifying the reasons for the gender pay gap, and highlighting the negative impact of parenthood on women's earnings. It is important to also reflect on the impact of this "life choice" on men. Men's incomes and working hours rarely decrease on having children, and indeed recent US research describes a fatherhood bonus, whereby men actually earn more than their childless male colleagues, even after controlling for the hours they work and the types of jobs they choose. Equality is sadly not yet a question of swings and roundabouts – men are gaining on both. – Is mise,
MAEBH NÍ CHATHALÁIN,
Ranelagh, Dublin 6.