Continued lack of maternity leave in politics slammed by pregnant Cork City Councillor
Cllr Fiona Ryan says she is six months pregnant and won't have access to any maternity leave, and that the issue is a huge barrier for women in politics.
A pregnant Cork City Councillor has said lack of maternity leave for elected representatives remains a major barrier to women in local politics.
“This has been discussed since before I was a councillor; I’m six months pregnant, and there’s no maternity leave there for me,” People Before Profit/Solidarity Councillor Fiona Ryan said at Monday evening’s council meeting in a conversation about gender quotas in local elections.
The continuing lack of legislative change to allow female Irish politicians maternity leave has been on the table since last year, when Justice Minister Helen McEntee became the first ever Irish Minister to give birth while in office. She required a complex arrangement involving four other Ministers in order to take six months’ leave following the birth of her baby.
It had been feared that Minister McEntee may be constitutionally required to quit the Cabinet because the Irish constitution requires politicians to be available for votes at all times with no exceptions.
Despite the national incident highlighting that there was no provision in place for maternity leave for Irish elected representatives, a year later, the situation remains unchanged.
A bill allowing for maternity leave for local elected representatives was published by West Cork TD Holly Cairns last November but any legal change won’t come in time for Cllr Ryan, who is set to give birth in just three months’ time.
40% female gender quota for LE 2024?
Cllr Ryan raised the issue in response to a motion proposed by several councillors that Cork City Council write to the Minister of State for Electoral reform requesting “that legislated candidate gender quotas of 40% be introduced to apply to the local elections in 2024.”
While gender quotas may be “an important first step,” Cllr Ryan said, there were many structural barriers to female participation in politics and the continued lack of maternity leave was one such barrier.
She also said she had concerns that quotas could be cynically manipulated in politics, with candidates run to fulfil quotas rather than as a genuine move to see more female representation.
Cllr Fiona Kerins, a member of the council’s women’s caucus and one of those who proposed the motion, said some may feel that a gender quota was unfair, but that Ireland’s demographic was almost 52% female and that political representation needed to reflect that.
“Cllr Ryan and Cllr Kerins have highlighted the difficulties in a system of politics designed by men for men,” Cllr Colette Finn, a member of the 5050 group which campaigns for gender parity in politics, said. “Since 1985, precious little has actually been done in dealing with the barriers that women face.”
“Lots of people think a gender quota is just about making things better for women, but I just want to highlight that there are advantages for men in living in a gender equal society.”
“In gender equal societies, men get to spend more time with their kids. It actually benefits everybody to have a gender equal society. Men in more equal societies have better health, are less likely to die by suicide, and are indeed less likely to less likely to die by violence.”