Budgets, quotas and women in Ireland

It's not easy being a woman in Ireland at the moment.

Sure, we don't face near the same challenges as women in places like DRC or Syria, but as residents of a supposedly developed European nation, we seem to drawing the short straw quite a bit. Not least by the fact that our Constitution places the value of our lives behind that of men and the unborn.

Now, the lack of female representation in our government means that women are the hardest hit by last week's national budget, the harshest austerity budget yet. I must say, I recognise and agree that Ireland needs to be harsh in order to remain within our debt restructuring programmes. Hard choices need to be made. But women have been disproportionately affected by this budget and it's hard not to draw parallels with the fact that there is only a few women in the Cabinet.

Yet another cut in child benefit means that families have been hit hard. Irish women are still the primary caregivers in the home, meaning they are under yet more financial pressure. A family with two children receiving child benefit will see their income drop by 240 Euro. In Ireland, all parents or guardians of children under sixteen who are in full time education, receive children's benefit, regardless of income. Given the high cost of living in Ireland, now exacerbated by widespread debt and high unemployment, it is essential for keeping working and middle class families afloat. Why not take child benefit off the richest in our country, who do not need it, rather than cutting it right across the board to devastating effect?

The harshest measure on women was undoubtedly the announcement that maternity benefit will now be taxed. This is completely outrageous. A woman's maternity benefit is covered by social insurance, a which is funded by the PRSI tax. So, a woman who has been paying into the PRSI all her working life will now find that money taxed even further.

Orla O'Connor, Director of the National Women's Council commented  “Taxing maternity benefit will hit expecting mothers and young families at a time when many of them are already operating on a very tight budget. The additional money that women have received so far through maternity benefit is only a small contribution to the enormous costs of having a baby."

Minister for Social Protection Joan Burton denied the budget was anti-women but Fianna Fail spokesperson on social protection, Willie O'Dea countered this "The slashing of Child Benefit, taxing of maternity benefit, failure to progress child care provision and cutbacks to the vital Back to School Allowance will be felt most of all by women,” said O’Dea. “For an ordinary mother rearing a young family she will be hit by reduced supports, new taxes and no substantial new childcare supports."

The ruling Fine Gael/Labour coalition government have taken some positive steps towards increasing women's public participation, most notably the introduction of statutory gender quotas; 30% of candidates put forward for election by political parties must now be female.

However, currently only 25 out of 166 Irish TDs are female. Since the Irish state was founded, only 260 women have been elected to the Dail, compared with 4,700 men.

It is not the case that there are not enough qualified women willing to enter politics but rather our political scene has not caught up with the times. Simple measures could be put in place allowing women easier participation in political affairs.The introduction of remote voting on Dail measures for instance, as most Dail votes take place late in the evening, would allow female political representatives to vote from home if necessary. 

If you're interested in more info on this, check out 5050 Group who are dedicated to achieving equal political representation in Ireland by 2020. Nothing changes until something changes. Support Irish women in politics.