Women candidates transform Irish
politics
By DOLORES
CURRAN
An all-woman slate running for the presidency of Ireland? Go away,
as the Irish say to obvious nonsense. But it wont go away -- the stunning
reality that even the major parties have put up female candidates untainted by
the scandals and corruption shadowing Irish politics this decade.
We just returned from nearly two months in Ireland, not as
tourists but as part-time residents, where we had a unique opportunity to
witness the woman problem in a country that telescopes social change into the
fewest possible years. Families that didnt possess telephones or washing
machines 11 years ago now accept microwaves, videocassette recorders and
computers as daily necessities.
The explosion of women on the political scene is one of the most
dramatic recent wrinkles. And, to the Irish male establishment, most
disconcerting. Yes, we heard, when we first arrived in mid-August, they are
proud that former President Mary Robinson was elected to head up the human
rights post in the United Nations but she was a fluke in Irish politics,
someone who sneaked into the presidency and used it to further her own
ambitions.
Once she emigrated to the U.N. -- and good riddance to
her, said many -- the presidency would revert to its traditional role: a
place to deposit former prime ministers or party loyalists who maintain their
public prestige by appearing at state funerals, All-Ireland football
championships and the openings of summer schools.
The Irish presidency is largely ceremonial. The president is not
permitted to speak out on political issues but, rather, serves as a sort of
defanged public relations personage. Because theres no power involved, it
seems a natural spot to place women in a nation bent on improving its gender
image. Therefore, its puzzling to witness the explosion of feelings and
heat this election is unleashing.
The consensus in early September was that voters would eventually
choose between two established political contenders: John Hume of the Social,
Democratic and Labor Party and Albert Reynolds of Fianna Fail.
Instead, with breathtaking speed, four women emerged to claim Mary
Robinsons crown and not one of them the result of old party loyalty or
death of a husband (Radio and television commentator Cokie Roberts once noted
that in all likelihood the first U.S. woman president would be a vice president
who gets there by the presidents dying. But thats thoroughly
appropriate, she said. Women have gotten so much by guys
dying.)
With the exception of one-time Eurovision Song Contest winner
Dana, the women are exceptionally qualified, experienced and proof of talent in
their respective secular fields. Mary McAleese is a law professor and peace
activist from the North. Mary Banotti is an Irish delegate to the European
Union. Adi Roche is an environmentalist and cofounder of the highly regarded
Chernobyl Childrens Project. Together, they offer Irish voters a dazzling
diversity of quality-of-life options.
Journalist Fintan OToole, writing in the Irish Times,
assigns a more fundamental meaning to this diversity: Each of the
candidates, by her very presence, offers a particular definition of what the
context for our national identity should be in the early years of the new
millennium. Each locates Ireland on a different map. Danas candidacy
places Ireland in the context of the American religious right, as a Christian
nation battling the forces of godless modernistic decadence. (He penned
this before Mother Angelica and flock endorsed Dana).
OToole continues, Mary Banottis Ireland is a
European society, intimately and irreversibly a part of the European Union. Adi
Roches Ireland belongs in the small world of global environmental
consciousness, the world in which a Ukrainian nuclear explosion is also a
deeply Irish disaster. Perhaps most awkwardly of all, Mary McAleeses
Ireland is what it officially pretends to be but does not always feel like, a
borderless island in which at least the Catholics of Northern Ireland are also
us.
As outsiders watching the astounding historical precedent of an
all-female slate unfold, we were struck by the initially bemused trivialization
of the candidates by the press and media. It wasnt until the last viable
male withdrew, either by choice or by party edict, that the press began
analyzing what happened. Even then the news focused more on the surprise
dumping of tarnished former Taoiseach Albert Reynolds by the conservative
Fianna Fail party than on the selection of McAleese as the partys
candidate. One got the impression that she was a mere footnote to the news
stories.
Two days later, the Irish Times ran a cartoon prolonging the
trivialization of female candidates: a flower-child female splashing slogans on
the wall of her bedroom (with teddy bear on pillow.) Two books rest on the
bookshelf: Dream of the New Millennium and Platitudes for the New Age. A man,
probably her father, stands at the door, and asks, What do you think you
are? A presidential candidate?
And what are the slogans hes deriding? Peace, Share, Joy,
Inclusiveness, Care, Love, Harmony. Hardly subversive goals in a nation
yearning for all of the above. Conventional wisdom has it that if John Hume,
veteran politician and negotiator in the historic peace process currently
taking place, had run as he was urged to do, he would have been a shoo-in. But
it is doubtful a similar cartoon would have been directed at him although the
slogans accurately represent his goals.
But why did the parties all turn to women? As one letter writer
asked, What happened to the manhood of old Ireland? It does not say much
for us when we cannot come up with a man who is willing to stand for president,
or who is considered suitable or good enough by our political
parties.
Enter the media and the extraordinary coincidence of a nation
immersed in coverage of the lives of three other women -- Mary Robinson,
Princess Diana and Mother Teresa -- at the same time that parties were
struggling over naming candidates. The virtues of these initially powerless
women were trumpeted by press and media daily, overtly or covertly broadcasting
the concept that women possess unique leadership potential in powerless
positions.
This concept was first widely publicized during the many official
farewells for Robinson, who was publicly credited with reinventing the
presidency, the unspoken message implying that her predecessors
accomplished little beyond the ceremonial. She was more than just a pretty
face, the editorials proclaimed, and both she and Ireland would be remembered
for her concern for refugees throughout the world.
Just as our first ladies take on a project like literacy,
disadvantaged children or beautifying the environment -- projects that are
usually considered peripheral to the role of running the nations real
business -- President Robinson took on the diaspora, relating it to the forced
emigration dating back to Irelands famine and brought it to the
worlds attention in Somalia, Bosnia and Rwanda.
We are the famine memory, she proclaimed to the world
and the Irish responded and continue to respond in an astounding outpouring of
money and aid workers to starving spots around the world, a generosity that
puts our nation and others to shame.
Three Irish humanitarian organizations, GOAL, Concern and
Trocaire, are listed among the top respected and compassionate NGOs --
nongovernmental organizations -- right up there with the Red Cross. Under
Robinsons leadership, Ireland has become internationally regarded as the
state version of Quakers in compassion to the world. And for all their grousing
about their former presidents travels, the Irish are justifiably proud of
their international image of humanitarianism.
Then there was Princess Diana. Because of ongoing antipathy to the
British monarchy, we were mystified at the genuine and widespread grief
exhibited by the Irish until we realized they related to her as a fellow victim
of that monarchy. They were particularly incensed by Prince Charles
infidelity before, during and after the marriage and felt that Diana was used
as breeding stock for an heir and then discarded, much as Ireland has been
treated by England throughout history.
All this was secondary, though, to Irish admiration for Princess
Dianas active involvement in humanitarian causes. Again, like Ireland,
she may have been denigrated and demoted, but she responded by taking up causes
like AIDS and the abolition of land mines. Her courage in taking on non-royal
behaviors, such as hugging an AIDS victim, contrasted strongly with the
proper behavior of Queen Elizabeth.
Finally, Mother Teresa represents the apex of power in powerless
leadership. While most stories proclaimed her life of good works, a secondary
story was gleefully covered: that she was run out of Belfast in 1973 by Bishop
William Philbin. Thats not nuns work you are doing,
Sister, said Philbin when he saw the nuns on their knees scrubbing the
floor in a slum dwelling in West Belfast.
Perhaps the link between the courage of three women battling the
power structure and the selection of four women for the presidency is just
coincidence. But the reality is they were women and they focused on human needs
rather than power politics. If Mary Robinson were Martin Robinson, and if
Prince Charles had died in that car crash, and if Mother Teresa were Fr.
Vincent de Paul, would female candidates have been as attractive to the Irish
constituency at this time in history? These three were just too visible to
ignore. In this atmosphere, even the most ardent antifeminist was unable to
call upon that old canard that emerges wherever a female candidate surfaces,
Women arent cut out to lead.
We will be watching this election with interest from back home in
Colorado. Ireland retains an old but seemingly popular voting procedure.
Instead of choosing a single candidate, the voter selects first, second and
third choices. When Mary Robinson ran, she was regarded as a joke, expected to
win by almost no one.
But the first choice between two party men split the vote and she
slipped in on second choice votes. Thats why her election was considered
a fluke by many. She was not the first choice of the majority of voters.
It could happen again and Ireland could find itself honoring as
president a Christian vocalist who was born in Northern Ireland, lives in
Alabama next to Mother Angelicas television spread, and renamed herself
Dana for show biz purposes.
Danas platform is pro-life/family values, and she knows how
to use the media. She is attractive, unflappable and touches the hearts of
those who long for an Ireland of the past. Because family values here include
honoring the family name, shes trying, with limited success, to switch
from Dana to her true name, Rosemary Brown Scanlon. She sang for the pope and
tried to launch her campaign from Knock. Thats qualification enough for
some Irish voters.
I wouldnt place any bets on this election. Initial
enthusiasm over an all-female slate is giving way to the inevitable backlash by
both men and women. John Waters, editorialist for the Irish Times, opened a
recent column with, Whenever someone like myself timidly suggests that
this presidential campaign is sexist, someone pipes up that isnt it
strange we had nothing to say when the presidency was dominated by men. The
logic is clear: Its payback time for the patriarchal male who dominated
his gentle sisters for so long.
Waters is not alone in suggesting that revenge on males underpins
the all-female slate. Or that domination of males is the reason these tough
women have chosen to run. A balance of toughness and femininity is the
tightrope all these candidates must walk. Ireland doesnt like its females
tough, even though Irish women are as tough as they come. (Read the memoirs of
sons of Irish mothers.)
Mark Brennock of the Irish Times pointed up the dilemma. He was
writing of Roche but his words apply to all the candidates: The Labor
Party chose her for her young, idealistic and committed image, which it
believes will attract young voters who are suspicious of the political
establishment. If she emerges as a tough authority figure who chews up those
who get in her way, her attractiveness for the anti-politician voters could be
dimmed. ... If the accusations merely add a veneer of toughness to a person
already acknowledged as compassionate and caring, she may even gain from the
present exchanges.
Its the Geraldine Ferraro dilemma all over again: Be tough
but dont be tough. In America were still battling over whether a
woman should be compassionate or tough while Ireland must choose from among
three women who are compassionate and tough and Dana who has slim public
evidence of either.
(As I wrap up this article, a news flash reports the entry of an
11th-hour male candidate, Derek Nally, into the race, so perhaps the
embarrassment to Irish manhood will be avoided after all. As a former garda or
police officer, Nallys toughness cannot be questioned, and as the founder
of the Victims Support group, he has proof of compassion -- everything a
man should be in this race.)
Dolores Curran, author and syndicated columnist, lives in
Colorado.
National Catholic Reporter, October 17,
1997
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