Eileen Connolly

Parliaments as Gendered Institutions: The Irish Oireachtas

This article examines the Irish Parliament (Oireachtas) as a gendered institution through an analysis of the gendered pattern of portfolio allocation in leadership roles (cabinet ministers, ministers of state and parliamentary committee chairs) from the late 1970s to 2012. Its aim is to analyse the extent to which the political leadership roles allocated to women have been clustered into a narrow band of portfolio areas that can be identified as being in line with world views based on a high level of gender difference, and that assigns caring and nurturing roles to women. The international literature suggests that this type of gender stereotyping in parliaments has reduced over time. However, the Irish case does not conform to this trend. The article demonstrates that since the end of the 1970s the Irish Parliament has had a degree of gender stereotyping that is high by international standards, and has deepened during the past decade.

Public Opinion and Development Issues: a Survey of Irish University Student Opinions

Surveys of Irish public opinion on international development assistance have shown high levels of support combined with relatively low levels of knowledge. This article discusses the finding of a survey of university students in Ireland in 2006-7. The results suggest that the attitudes of students in Ireland closely mirror that of the wider population. They are supportive of aid and think official aid from the government should be increased. Irish development NGOs are seen as the public face of development assistance and there is little recognition of Irish Aid – the state’s official development agency. While there is awareness of the importance of structural issues such as trade access and debt relief, the spontaneous responses to what needs to be done to allow development still focus on aid and volunteering. Students are already persuaded that development is important and are motivated to donate or act, development education efforts however need to focus more on creating a better understanding of the causes of underdevelopment and the structural factors relating to interactions between wealthy and poor states.

Gender and political representation in the de facto states of the Caucasus: women and parliamentary elections in Abkhazia

This article examines if the reasons suggested for the relatively low percentage of women in parliaments across the former Soviet space can provide an explanation for the low, and deteriorating, percentage of women in the National Assembly of Abkhazia. In the 2012 election womens representation in the de facto state of Abkhazia dropped from 11.4% to 2.8%, a fall from the highest to the lowest percentage of women in the parliament since 1991 in one election. This result can be explained as a consequence of Abkhazias political system, the strong presidency that dominates parliament, the limitations on the capacity of political parties to contest elections and the majoritarian electoral system that all negatively impact on womens representation. Its single mandate district electoral system would make the application of gender quotas difficult, but in the case of Abkhazia it is the weak party system that creates additional barrier to promoting women candidates. The limitations on political parties mean that the gatekeeper role exercized by them in other polities is hardly present in Abkhazia and as a result social relations rather than the institutionalized practices within political parties dominate electoral competition at the constituency level to the disadvantage of women.