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THERE’S A MOMENT each time during Women for Election’s Inspire Programme where jaws have dropped and the gasps have been audible.
That’s the moment where the gathered women realise the actual number of votes it takes to get elected. The shock comes because the number in some cases is so low. We can see the women thinking that between friends, family, neighbours, colleagues, former colleagues, and fellow members of the local sports club or Tidy Towns Committee that the number of people they need to support them isn’t really that high.
Yet this is information, the fabled ‘numbers’ that remains such a mystery to those outside the political system. At Inspire, Women for Election’s campaign expert breaks it down for the participants – pointing to the actual number of votes needed to get elected to a town or borough council (which is where most people start their political careers), how to identify that vote, and how unnecessary universal appeal is a multi-seat constituency.
A stark example cites TDs in the current Dáil who got elected on five per cent of the vote – meaning 95 or so out of every hundred in who voted in their constituencies did not vote for these TDs. These are the type of figures that really resonate.
Of course, getting even these votes is the hard part for any candidate. But for women there are particular challenges. International research shows that it is the ‘five C’s’ that hinder women entering politics: confidence, cash, culture, candidate selection and childcare. Women for Election, in our initial Inspire programme, want to encourage women to at least think about entering political life. Using this international research along with our
own, we set about providing women with practical tools and information that might transform their mind set.
We decided to focus initially on confidence, campaigns and communication skills. Confidence because we wanted women who were already active, committed and passionate about issues and their communities to see that they had it within themselves to go forward; campaigns because we wanted to demystify the process and show how to read the numbers, identify the voters and build a team; and communications so women could see how to transfer the issues they were passionate about into well-communicated messages.
So far we have run Inspire Programmes in Dublin, Cork and Galway (which brought together women from not only Galway but Mayo, Clare, Sligo, Leitrim, Cavan and Westmeath). On July 7 due to incredible demand we will be back in Dublin again.
Some have asked why we are focusing on women and our answer is clear. In the current Dáil we have the best representation of women ever – yet only 15 per cent of TDs are female. In the last General Election just 86 of the 566 candidates were women – also 15 per cent.
So it seems evident that women have every chance of getting elected if they can get on to the ticket. That is where Women for Election come in. We believe in a balanced participation of women and men in political life. We are the only non-partisan organisation working solely on identifying and supporting women to commit to public life. In the past, parties have commissioned training for women on an ad-hoc basis without significant long-term impact.
As an organisation Women for Election feel very strongly about the fact that we are very strictly non-partisan. No ifs, buts or maybes. We make it very clear at the beginning of every programme we run; this is not the place to discuss Government policy, party politics or electoral reform. We have had members of every party and none at our programmes, women who have canvassed for candidates and women who have never even considered joining a political party. We have received and are incredibly grateful for the
support from female politicians of every persuasion, a growing number of whom have spoken at our events about their personal journey providing inspiration to the gathered women.
Women for Election is only part of a solution to a larger problem. There is under-representation in politics among all minority groups in society. Yet just because you cannot fix the whole problem doesn’t mean you shouldn’t attempt to play your part. It has been really encouraging to see what has happened during Inspire programmes. Women have come together, shared learning and experiences, received valuable training and information and at the end of each day made commitments to themselves and others.
Some commitments have been small steps, like promising to seek out more information, or take a leadership role in whatever community group, sports club or association they are already a member of. Other commitments have been more profound. At the end of every Inspire we have had a small number of women announce that their mind is made up – they are going to do what it takes to run for election.
The cheers they get from every woman in the room - hopefully some of whom will be running against them – are incredible to see.
This is only the start of the political journey for these women and we hope they will be joined by many more. Women for Election will be there to support them all.
Niamh Gallagher is the co-founder of Women for Election. Anyone interested in finding out more about the INSPIRE Programme to be held in Dublin on July 7 can email inspire@womenforelection.ie. Further information about Women for Election is available at womenforelection.ie.
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The public are ahead of government in all aspects of society? Daily we live through the problems, staring at them for generations, they seem oblivious.
Yet another example where capitalism fails miserably to better our society.
Public services should never be privitised or be for profit. It just doesn’t work. Capitalism works great when making iPhones, but is awful when making an effective public service.
@Caoimhin O’Connor: IPhones are made in China who are communist
@Caoimhin O’Connor: privatisation has worked well for this country, as promised we have excellent water and electrical infrastructure and lower priced electricity, a waste management service that’s vastly improved, a private health service that out performs the public one. Imagine these were once included in your taxes and actually worked well. Now your taxes remain the same but now we pay for these services on top, if like health care you can afford it.
@Spanner: privitisation has not worked well in anything you’ve stated
thankfully to the water protesters water has not been privitised.
we have the highest electricity costs in Europe (& the people who had supply out for 3 weeks would disagree it’s a great infrastructure) so that’s completely wrong.
We have terrible waste management services – why don’t you walk Dublin,cork or Limerick inner city and see what privitisation has done for litter and rural areas for fly tipping. It was way cleaner when the councils took charge of waste.
@Caoimhin O’Connor: Capitalism is the most moral and most successful economic system ever because it allocates the resources effectively to those who deserve it the most. In a free market, no one can demand that you work for them, provide them with goods, or surrender your wealth. Every interaction, whether employment, trade or charity, is voluntary. The failures of childcare in this country come from Socialist intervention from Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil. Price controls, heavy regulation, and subsidies distort the market, making childcare more expensive, less available and lower in quality. That’s just basic economics, you’d do well to realise that. Every failure in Ireland can’t be directly linked back to leftist economics. Public service should be the job of the government to begin with.
@William Jennings: Shouldn’t be the job of government to begin with. The only role of government should be to provide a court system, a police and fire service and a standing army for national defence. Everything else should be left to the private sector to handle.
@Joe Willis: Yes, but the profit goes to Cupertino. Apple use China as a low cost manufacturing facility. They don’t make iPhones in the US because it costs too much and shareholders returns would be diminished. Capitalism will always move to where manufacturing costs are lowest so to make higher profits.
No mention on how much taxpayer money will be needed to implement these recommendations. Of course parents want better services for their children at a cheaper price than they are currently paying, however someone will need to pay so lets get some figures on what this will cost and then see what taxes need to increase to pay for it all.
@The next small thing: we have €15bn in a rainy day fund.
If parents didn’t have to spend a second mortgage on creche fees they could spend more in the local economy.
We badly need to increase the birth rate
@Frances Byrne,
Creches are not places of education, they are early learning centers.
Children in creches don’t have to do exams.
Some creches are just dumping grounds for children of lazy parents who can’t be bothered to look after their own children.
@Thomas O’Brien: Since when is learning not education?. My children went to a pre school crèche and there they learned the alphabet and how to count, and read a little. So clearly there is education happening at some of them at least.
@Thomas O’Brien: they are staffed with graduates of early childhood education degrees. Children in primary school don’t have to do exams either, they are still places of education.
@Ger Whelan:
Did they pass all their exams.
@Jane Gunnigan:
They are not staffed with graduates.
They are staffed by child care assistants.
Primary school children get this thing called homework which is a form of exam.
@Thomas O’Brien: or alternately, have to work to feed and clothe them, and also pay for the creche.
@Thomas O’Brien: my niece is a first class honours graduate of the early childhood education degree from DCU. It is a full-time 4 year, level 8 degree. She works in a creche, and most of her colleagues hold the same qualification.
The type of homework given to children in junior and senior infants in primary school is no way comparable to an exam.
@Jane Gunnigan:
No wonder child care is so expensive, with all the college degrees the child care assistants have. Speaking of homework, when the homework is not done the children are told off and get stressed out, just like doing exams.
@Setanta O’Toole:
Not all parents who work, send their children to creches.
@Thomas O’Brien: five year olds are told off and stressed out? Seriously? I’d be having a word with the teacher…
@Thomas O’Brien: pawn them off to a childminder or the grandparents so. How is that any less ‘lazy’ then sending them to a creche?
@Thomas O’Brien: what school are you in that are doing that? My son is in senior infants. Not once has he been given out to for not having homework done. The school even gave us the guideline of homework only taking 15 mins in junior & 20 mins in senior infants. If it’s going on longer, & the child isn’t engaged, the advice from the school is to leave it. And that’s not just for the infant years, they have an approx time and same approach for all years in the primary school. Oh & the minimum by law that someone in a childcare setting has to have is a Level 5 certificate in Early Learning & Care. Minimum if they’re in an ECCE room (which has a set curriculum btw) is a Level 6. That’s just the min. Most places will want people who have higher.
@Susan Walsh:
I finished school a long time ago.
So your son doesn’t do his homework.
A level 5 or level 6 certificate is not a degree in child care.
@Setanta O’Toole:
So the child care assistants are not childminders then. The grandparents are family. I have seen children being dumped at creches and collected whenever the parents are ready and the childminder/carer has to stay there after their shifts until they turn up.
@Jane Gunnigan:
I think you should.
@Thomas O’Brien: you now what i meant pedantic Tom. Someone they pay privately to mind their child only. I’ve seen far more parents take advantage of their own parents then Creche workers, and the majority of them grandparents aren’t getting paid for it either. You haven’t explained how one is somehow ‘lazier’ than the other either.
@Setanta O’Toole:
Both are lazy.
Why do the work when you can get someone to do it for you.
@Thomas O’Brien: I meant that as what school are your children in that you are hearing that from? And where did I say my son didn’t do his homework? I said the school has told us that homework is not essential to their development and if it’s not working that day, to leave it as all forcing them to do it at 5/6 years old will do is cause problems. My son actually enjoys his homework & I think in 2 years there’s been maybe 4 times in total it hasn’t been done. No I didn’t say it was a degree – I said they were the minimum legally. Whereas most places will want more than the minimum needed. Or will encourage their staff to upskill. Personally I would like the people looking after my child to be well qualified.
@Susan Walsh:
I am hearing it from the people who work in the creches. Some parents just leave their children at the creche and go back home to bed. Not all parents work and some of the ones that do have no time for their children, leaving them at the creche until they are good and ready to collect them.
@Thomas O’Brien: Em I said nothing about that at all. I mean it’s nothing to do with me what people are doing if they’re putting their children into childcare. And some might be – but you don’t know if they’re shift workers or what. And then there is ECCE which is for every child for 3 hours a day. I doubt there’s many just leaving them in for a full day when they’re not working considering the massive cost. It’s literally a second mortgage to have a child in full time childcare so I don’t know anyone who is affording that while not doing anything. Oh & my point was more about where you were trying to claim homework was like exams even for primary school children. Which it is not.
@Susan Walsh:
Have you seen some of the homework some children get, it’s like another few hours in class.
@Thomas O’Brien: yes I have. Not only from my child but also nieces & nephews. None that I’ve seen in *primary school* are getting masses of homework that would take hours. Also you ignored the other part about how people are affording the second mortgage cost of childcare if all they’re doing is going home to sleep? You’re very able to pick & choose what bits to reply to that suit yourself.
There are virtually no creche places available in Dublin. It’s an emergency. What is the Minister for Children doing about it?!!
@Pat Redmond: private business.
@Panti Bliss: if the children are in creche, parents are paying for their place, therefore also paying taxes. So not ‘useless’
@Pat Redmond: give them credit they talk about it a fair bit so as mehole would say they stand in solidarity with transparency that’s about the size of it.
Married mothers should be given a Married Mother Allowance.
@thomas molloy: Married fathers should be given a married fathers allowance.
@Willie Marty: Hell, why not throw in a Grandparents allowance while we are at it !
@Willie Marty: Why? Because they do the same level of parenting as mothers! Pigs flying low over ireland…..I await the bullets.
@Clare Power: All mothers do the serious heavy lifting in most cases, it’s a reality.
Everyone wants free stuff but no one wants to pay for it. It’s left-wing government intervention from Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil that has caused the childcare shortage here in Ireland. Instead of allowing competition to bring prices down naturally, the price controls reduce incentives to open new childcare facilities, leading to shortages. It forces providers to cut services to meet artificial price limits. This creates waiting lists, making it harder for parents to find childcare at all. Instead of helping families, subsidies drive costs up by artificially increasing demand. Parents can “afford” to pay more because the government covers some costs. Childcare providers raise prices to capture the subsidy money. The result? Prices keep rising, making childcare even more unaffordable.
@William Jennings: Well, I suppose if you reduce childcare to the equivalent of a sandwich making enterprise, then market forces should prevail. Consumers can choose the cheap ALDI or the expensive M&S type. Similarly with wages, if you’re going to insist that the staff are professionally qualified you’re going to pay more, or you can avail of the services of a non-qualified childminder. So, the choice is between the no market interference by public authorities option or a regulated service that looks after children’s best interests. Children are not sandwiches.
It’s basically common sense coming from a bunch of fools
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