Republican News · Thursday 26 June 2003

Tackling gender equality

BY JOANNE CORCORAN

Ard Chomhairle members took part in a seminar last Saturday as part of Sinn Féin's drive to achieve equality and gender balance within its ranks.

Saturday's gathering, the second such session for Ard Chomhairle members, was convened by Lucilita Bhreatnach, head of the party's Equality Department and facilitated by independent consultant Maria Hegarty.

It opened with an informal discussion, where issues were raised that people believed had an effect on gender balance in the party. A summary of the recent audit of women members of Sinn Féin was then presented, followed by a reminder from Maria of the specific problems still faced by women in society.

The Ard Chomhairle members identified the obvious equality issues faced by Sinn Féin. These include traditional attitudes towards women, Sinn Féin being a male-dominated party, women not progressing through the party structures, women not visible in the party and women not standing as candidates.

It was also agreed that Sinn Féin is not the only political party to suffer from a lack of equality, and that the problem lies with broader political and societal structures.

The main problem with the party's approach to equality was succinctly summed up by General Secretary Robbie Smyth, who said that while the party is republican in its objectives, it's not always republican in its activities. His view that the party is obsessed with achieving set goals and that the issue of equality comes second to those goals, was acknowledged by the group.

There were no heated arguments on the day, both the men and women present generally accepting that Sinn Féin has a problem attracting and keeping women.

The women's audit report showed that the party is made up of roughly 26% women.

The audit asked women to note specific skills they might have, and this showed a high level of talented women within the party. However, it also revealed that the job held most by women at cumann level was the secretarial position, reflecting a stereotyped attitude when appointing women to positions on officer boards.

Lucilita pointed out that there are currently skills training courses taking place for women throughout the party to make sure that they can access the different roles on the cumann officer boards.

A recurring theme of the day was how to get women to stand as candidates for the party. Some of the women present said that women who had stood for the party before had felt it was a bad experience. Many had been promised support, but felt that they did not get it.

Alex Maskey made perhaps the one controversial comment of the day, when he said that the party is naturally aggressive in its way of doing things and that women weren't always willing to be aggressive, so they stood back from certain roles.

The facilitator pointed out that a particular problem that needed to be addressed was men's perception of women. Men had to make the choice to share power, she said, and that includes changing how politics works. She added it didn't always need to be aggressive politics.

The day provided a hopeful insight into the party's attitude towards equality.

The Equality Department now plans to organise gender awareness training throughout the party at all levels.