Paul Glynn | Senior Staff Writer
Today we are fortunate to see a promising pattern of growing representation of women in positions of leadership, in business, technology and politics. Nonetheless, there are still places where that glass ceiling feels a little harder to crack. One such corner, trivial as it might sound in the grand scheme of things, is right here in Trinity, where for the past few years the representation of women in Students’ Union Sabbatical roles has been modest. Representation has generally hovered between one and two women since 1996, with only one on each of the last three officer teams.
Motivated by a newfound awareness of the dearth of women in student leadership, steps are being taken – 2014 saw the introduction of the Women for Leadership’s INFORM campaign to Trinity College, aiming to inspire women to be confident in roles of authority. Instrumental to WfL’s introduction to Trinity was Education Officer Katie Byrne, the only woman on the incumbent sabbatical team, and she is proud of the work she and her colleagues have done here. “We have a 50/50 split in the candidates, potentially for the first time ever”, Byrne enthuses, and though she admits to not ruling out a “coincidence” in the ven split, she says she “would like to think the campaign influenced the women that put themselves forward a little”.
Not all women contesting positions went to the WfL workshops. Nonetheless, they all agreed that it offered fantastic opportunities.
Today, eight of this year’s sixteen election candidates are women. Lynn Ruane, Molly Kenny, Aoife O’Brien, Louise O’Toole, Muireann Montague, Jemma O’Leary, Aifric Ni Chriodain and Katie Cogan have all cast their hats into the ring, and in doing so have reconfigured the traditional male-dominated election pattern of previous years. How did the Women for Leadership program, and general attitudes to women in politics, influence the current candidates running for office?
Interestingly, not all women contesting positions went to WfL workshops. Nonetheless, they all agreed that it offered fantastic opportunities for anyone to feel more confident in leadership roles. “Most of [the workshops] were on before I decided to run, and then on the day of the last one I was sick and couldn’t go”, said Communications and Marketing candidate Jemma O’Leary. “I wish I had though”, she added, “Because I think the Women in Leadership initiative was amazing and a great thing for Katie to achieve in her time as Education Officer”. Molly Kenny, running for Education, agreed, adding “I wouldn’t say it was a main factor in my decision but I can definitely say it’s been a confidence boost.”
Ents candidate Katie Cogan attended the workshops and found them “immensely helpful and encouraging”. She too praised Byrne, commending her “incredible work in facilitating a safe space for women to air their concerns about the leadership race, and to discuss how we can alleviate these concerns”. Welfare and Equality candidate Aoife O’Brien was particularly eager to make time to discuss Women for Leadership, even after a tiring day of campaigning. “I actually sat on the Women in Leadership committee as part of my role as Gender Equality Officer this year – which was a really exciting thing to be part of”, she told me. “Hearing about the experiences and fears of other women in leadership positions helped me to realise I wasn’t alone in being afraid of how I might be seen or treated as a female candidate”. Fellow W&E candidate Muireann Montague concurred: “It was just very reassuring to hear other women speak about similar experiences and to know I wasn’t making things up in my head. It worked as almost a support network if you will and I’m delighted that Katie Byrne had the foresight to set it up”.
“I suppose it’s always been considered a female role, whatever that means. In fact that’s probably one of the things that almost swayed me off running. I’m not one for fitting into a box.”
The lack of women running for SU office has been a long-time issue, and was often put forward as a discussion point at SU council sessions during Jack Leahy’s tenure in office, whom Katie Byrne credits with opening the conversation. For Molly Kenny, this was part of her epiphany. “I got the idea and confidence to run last year from the work/discussion that was done in council and the women for election workshop I took part in”, she tells me. The ball also started rolling early for Aoife O’Brien, who was elected class rep for her mostly-male engineering class.
Traditionally a female-dominated position, I asked the ladies in this year’s race for Welfare and Equality officer for their views on this. “I think that having so many women run for welfare this year in particular is brilliant because it has brought forward so many ideas and perspectives on different issues”, says candidate Louise O’Toole, reflecting the diversity in background of the candidates in general: among other significant roles, O’Brien held two part-time officer roles in the Union, namely Gender Equality and Disability. Montague has been Welfare Committee secretary and an all-round stalwart of QSoc, as well as its current Liaison officer. And O’Toole herself, who decided to run independently of the initiative, is an S2S veteran, currently its PRO, and studies Social Work. Montague tends to brush off the job’s “feminine” label – “I suppose it’s always been considered a female role, whatever that means”, she says. “In fact that’s probably one of the things that almost swayed me off running. I’m not one for fitting into a box.”
In this respect, the Ents office seems otherworldly. For Cogan, the traditional male domination of this role was no distant thought. “Rather than discouraging me from running, this actually has become one of the core aspects of our campaign, and provides us with a reason to work hard at it – this is not just a personal campaign, but one that resonates among the entire female population of Trinity”. She adds that though TCDSU shouldn’t side-line men, “it’s crucial that our leaders represent the diverse nature of the student body, and this has been hugely lacking in the SU, particularly in Ents.”
Presidential candidate Lynn Ruane draws from her experiences of working with other minorities and social groups to build on her views of women in leadership. “Being a woman is something that I never tuned into in terms of a barrier to success. It is my class and lack of education which was my biggest barrier. It is only then with an education that I realised that my gender may also hold me back and the fact that I am a single parent”, she tells me. “The SU needs to be representative of all students so a gender balance is required alongside adequate representation of all other social, cultural and race backgrounds.”
=Ivana Bacik indicates the “5-C” barriers to women running for leadership positions: “childcare, cash, confidence, culture and candidate selection procedures”.
Although all candidates show optimism for tomorrow, many believe this does not mark the end of the struggle for representation. Issues of confidence and misogyny prevail, and need to be tackled. “I was sure I wanted to run but extremely apprehensive of the campaign time, as I’ve experienced being called ‘a bitch’ or ‘up myself’ in past things, where I solely put that down to my gender as I’d seen guys do the same and be encouraged or rewarded”, admits Kenny. For her this is an issue of personal importance, as she was one of five women members of the Hist who last year 2014 outlined a public petition stating their intention to strike unless gender-based discrimination was addressed in the society.
It’s also important to Aoife O’Brien, who acknowledges that these were worries of hers, too, in the run-up to this year’s campaigns. “Many of my own concerns were things like ‘Will I lose votes because I’m not conventionally attractive?’, ‘Will I have to wear make up in order to get voters to engage with me?’, and ‘When I stand up to talk at hustings will people be listening to my ideas or thinking I look ugly or fat?’. I think there is very much still a sense of politics being a man’s job in Ireland. Like we still see discussions about what women wear, or their relationships, or motherhood”. O’Brien refers to a 2009 report by senator and Trinity graduate Ivana Bacik that indicates the “5-C” barriers to women running for leadership positions: “childcare, cash, confidence, culture and candidate selection procedures”.
C&M candidate Aifric Ni Chriodain believes the talent pool of women in College extends far beyond the SU: “we are fortunate to have so many dynamic women within the student body. The women I know who run our societies, who make up our sports teams, who work with the SU, and who volunteer with our charities, have all been more inspiring to me than any guest”, she tells me, and she is not wrong, with many of our large organisations being headed up by women, such as The Phil’s Sarah Mortell, Catherine Healy of Trinity News and Niamh Teeling of S2S.
Though we’ve far to go in dismantling the stereotype of what O’Brien laments as a “man’s job”, there’s a sense that we are on track, and these eight women are confident for the future of not only student elections, but politics as a whole. Kenny says “if you look at the dynamic at the moment women have more accessible female role models to get help and advice from”, and “I’m not saying next year but I do think in the future there won’t be a question of ‘women in leadership'”. Ruane’s outlook on the future sees initiatives like Women for Leadership having an important spillover role: “I would love to see other campaigns similar to this be rolled out for all other underrepresented groups”.
Ni Chriodain summates the optimism of this new generation of candidates well: “I am delighted to see so many women on the ballot this year, and hope that this will only grow in the years to come. This year we can say for certain that at least two of our sabbats will be female, if not more”. Her opponent O’Leary agrees, adding that she looks forward to a future year of more women than men on the sabbatical team. Cogan, however, warns of letting our guard down. “Naturally it is important that we do not become complacent and continue to give encouragement to women, and indeed all members of the student body, as the SU is at its most effective when it is a true representative of the students”.
Slow and steady wins the race, and as a whole our student body looks like it’s pulling up to the head of the pack in a race towards a societal dynamic where equality becomes the norm.
Katie Byrne couldn’t agree more. “The phrase ‘You can’t be what you can’t see’ is one that has come over and over again throughout the campaign and I really do believe there is truth in that but the women running this year and very visible, very capable and more than holding their own, they have inspired me and I’m sure they are inspiring many potential future candidates.” She tells me. Judging by the impressive increase in women contesting elections, up from two out of eleven last year, her optimism holds truth. Slow and steady wins the race, and as a whole our student body looks like it’s pulling up to the head of the pack in a race towards a societal dynamic where equality becomes the norm, and, the idea of women in leadership becomes not only achievable, but the norm.
