Lately Things Seem to Be Changing So Now Again a Strong Tide of Liberty Seems to Be Coming

Oireachtas Women1918-2008

“Lately things seem to be changing… so now again a strong tide of liberty seems to be coming towards us, swelling and growing and carrying before it all the outposts that hold women enslaved and bearing them triumphantly into the life of the nation to which they belong.”

(Constance Markievicz, Women, Ideals and the Nation, 1909)

In 1918 women achieved the right to vote in Ireland for the first time, subject to certain restrictions. This year marks the 90th anniversary of this historic event and offers the opportunity to celebrate women’s contribution to the Oireachtas.

In the general election of December 1918, women exercised their right to vote for the first time, and elected a woman to parliament on the first occasion at which it was possible to do so. The first woman to be elected was Constance Markievicz.

Today, women comprise 13.3% of Dáil membership (22 members out of 166) and 21.7% of Seanad membership (13 members out of 60).

Of the total 4,452 Dáil seats filled since 1918, 219 of these have been filled by women (4.9%).

Of the 1,620 Seanad seats filled since 1922, 151 of these have been filled by women (9.3%).

Of the total 6,072 Dáil and Seanad seats filled since 1919, women have filled 370 of these (6.1%).

Although there are more women in parliament today than at any other time in our history, Ireland is currently ranked 87th in the world for the representation of women in national parliament ( based on membership of the lower house).

Figure 1: Percentage of Women in Select National Parliaments Worldwide

Oireachtas Women1918-2008

“Women hold up half the sky. What if they filled up half our parliament?”

(The Portuguese Parity Parliament, 1994)

This year, Sunday 14th December 2008 will mark the 90th anniversary of the 1918 general election, the election in which women first had the vote in Ireland. That month, Constance Markievicz was elected as the first woman MP/TD.

In order to commemorate this historic event, Senator Ivana Bacik has organised a special lunch and photographic event to be held in Leinster House on Tuesday 9th December 2008 for all former and current women TDs and Senators. A photograph will be taken in the Dáil chamber of former and current women members of the Oireachtas.

The purpose of this photographic event will be to illustrate in a visual and very striking way the numbers of women who have been elected or appointed to the Oireachtas over the years.

This means that the Dáil chamber will be half filled with women politicians for the first time ever, at lunchtime on Tuesday 9th December.

Although nothing similar has been done in Ireland before, this exercise was carried out in the Portuguese ‘Parity Parliament’ day in 1994. The photograph of women politicians filling half of the Portuguese parliamentary chamber achieved a widespread impact, and helped greatly to increase awareness about low levels of women’s political participation.

This event will serve both as a celebration of the many remarkable women who have been TDs and Senators over the past 90 years; and as a reminder of the low levels of women’s participation in Irish political life.

For more information about the event, contact:

Senator Ivana Bacik, Oireachtas Éireann, Leinster House, Kildare Street, Dublin 2.

Tel: 01 618 3136 or 086 813 3751

Email: bsite: