Once upon a time in the land of bank bailouts......there was an Irish Graduate.... and they all lived in debt ever after! Feisty and fluent in sarcasm... this is one graduate who refuses to be forgotten!!
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million Syrians have been uprooted from their homes; half of the people
displaced are children; 2.5 million Syrians have registered as refugees in
neighbouring countries; this is Syria three years on.
Since
the Syrian conflict erupted, Syria has become the world’s leading country of
forced displacement. As of today 2,563,434 Syrians have registered as refugees
or are awaiting registration in neighbouring countries.
In a
statement released by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees on Friday, António
Guterres said “It is unconscionable that a humanitarian catastrophe of this
scale is unfolding before our eyes with no meaningful progress to stop the
bloodshed.
The
surrounding region of Syria is expected to become the largest refugee
population in the world. Lebanon, for example, has the highest per-capital
concentration of refugees of any country in recent history. The number of
registered refugees in Lebanon that hail from Syria could grow to 1.6 million by
the end of 2014.
“Imagine
the crushing social and economic consequences of this crisis on Lebanon and
other countries in the region,” Guterres added.
International support, beyond the parameters
of the immediate neighbouring region of Syria, is integral. For example, in
Europe, 56,000 asylum applications have been submitted by Syrians since March
2011 when the conflict began.
A mere 4% of Syrians who have fled from their
native land have sought safety in Europe. But this trend is rising, however
with grave consequences. An increasing number of Syrians are putting their
lives in the hands of human smugglers, resultant of which has been the tragic
death of 250 Syrians, who died whilst attempting to cross the Mediterranean.
Furthermore,
borders are being closed to Syrians in some instances. “What kind of a world is
this where Syrians fleeing this violent conflict have to risk their lives to
reach safety, and when they finally make it, they are not welcomed or even
turned away at borders?” Guterres said.
UNCHR have played an instrumental role in ensuring that those seeking
asylum in other countries should be able to do so. UNCHR, alongside UNICEF
worked with the country’s Ministry of Education to get 30,000 refugee children
in to the public school system in Lebanon.
In addition to their work in the realm of education, UNICEF Ireland
Ambassador, Donncha O’Callaghan, travelled to the Beka region in Lebanon in
June 2013. “What I saw out there absolutely shocked me. I couldn’t believe the
dire state of it all”, Donncaha said, upon his return.
It saddened him greatly to see children suffering from severe
infections due to dirty water.
“Imagine not being able to get a drink, a small basic human need”,
he said.
During his time in Lebanon, Donncha spent time on a special
caravan that travels throughout the entire Bekaa region, providing trauma
counselling and therapy for children. These therapy sessions run by UNICEF are
designed to help children cope and survive the mental and physical trauma of
the Syrian conflict.
Donncha has been an Ambassador for UNICEF since August 2009, but
the pressures the renowned Munster rugby star feel accompany such a title are
much greater than those he ever feels when on a rugby pitch.
The UNICEF Ireland Ambassador understands the gravity of the
Syrian crisis; “I’ve stood for anthems 94 times but I’ve never felt the pressure
to get a story across than I have for things like this”, he said at the time.
3 years on, it is a crisis that must not be forgotten.
In 1918, Irish
women exercised their right to vote for the first time; in the same year, the
nation elected the first woman to parliament, Constance Markievicz; and in 1990,
Ireland elected its first female president, Mary Robinson. These are not only
milestones in Irish history; they are also milestones on an elongated path
towards gender equality. Ireland’s feminists however believe that women are
still not pari passu to men despite the aforementioned female attainments.
There is indeed veracity in their beliefs. In the past year, there has been a
plethora of information published on the topic of the gender pay gap, whereby a
report by the European Commission detailed a 17% gender pay gap in Ireland, and
also political gender inequality, whereby only 15% of politicians in Dáil
Éireann are female.Such statistics
suggest that a culture of gender inequality prevails. Yet one such area rarely
alluded to in Irish literature or media is that of Gender Equality in Sport, or
rather the lack thereof.It is an issue
of grave salience and one which must be tackled.
Does gender serve as a limitation in the pursuit of a
professional sporting career?
Brian
O’Driscoll, Jamie Heaslip and Paul O’Connell are renowned full time
professional rugby players, who also play at international level. Fiona
Coghlan, Niamh Briggs, and Lynne Cantwell also represent their country at
international level on the Irish Women’s Rugby Team. However, there is one
major difference between the male and female Irish rugby teams, all male
members of the Irish rugby team are full time professional rugby players, whereas
the ladies rugby team are deemed amateur sportspeople. The Irish Times (2012) once described rugby as ‘just the day job’ for Jamie Heaslip, yet
his female counterparts do not enjoy the same luxury, for them it is entirely
amateur. Fiona Coghlan, Niamh Briggs and Lynne Cantwell have full-time careers
off the rugby pitch, namely, teaching, the Gardaí, and physiotherapy
respectively. So whilst their male counterparts can pursue rugby as a
professional sporting career, females must maintain another career, and pursue
rugby as a mere hobby. This is one such example of gender inequality in the
sporting arena. Both groups train at the same level, compete at the same level,
yet do not enjoy the same equality in terms of funding, media coverage, and
appreciation.
In rugby in
particular there remains gender inequality in Ireland. Fiona Coghlan*, Captain
of the Irish Ladies Rugby team, said of this ‘It is not an option to be a professional female rugby player in
Ireland. In other countries where women’s rugby is semi-professional or
professional it is still incomparable to the men’s professional game, as the
women’s wage for example would be far less than the men’s’. Quite simply if
a female wants to pursue a professional career in rugby in Ireland it is not
possible. The IRFU do not appear to be amending this status, they are merely
amateurs, who choose to dedicate themselves to the cause at international
level, whilst they must sustain their respective full-time jobs. Admirably, it
is their wanting and hunger for success as a ladies team that sees them don the
infamous green jersey, not the hefty wage or the lucrative sports deals unlike
their male counterparts.
The role the
media plays in the coverage of sports has also a significant impact on gender
equality. Sports coverage, including both television and print, favour male
sporting events. Dublin’s Sport and Recreational Council (2007) conducted an investigation into this matter in 2007. During
their study, they counted the number of photographs of sportsmen and sports
women in six prominent Irish National Newspapers over a 15 day time period. The
chosen newspapers comprised The Irish Times, The Irish Examiner, The Irish
Independent, The Irish Star, The Irish Sun, and The Irish Mirror. The results
illustrated that in 2007, 1.2% of the photos in the aforementioned Irish
National Newspapers were that of sportswomen. This figure decreased
considerably when compared to their previous study conducted in 2005, which
noted 3.3% of photos were of women. In 2007, overall during the three week
period sampled, there were 6,503 images of sportspeople in the National Newspapers;
of these 6,425 were images of male sporting professionals, whereas a meagre 78
images were that of female sporting professionals. These figures highlight the
injustice in the coverage of sport in the media, the inequality female sporting
professionals must contend with despite their prowess in their chosen sports
field. In their study, Dublin’s Sport and Recreational Council noted that the
explanation for the underrepresentation of women in the sports pages of
national newspapers was simply due to the fact that a greater proportion of men
than women read the sports pages and so; they suggest newspapers tailor the
material included in the sports pages to suit the readership.
In the United
States, over 40% of men watch female sports (Massey,
2012). The same literature also referred to the fact that only three covers
of Sports Illustrated were dedicated
to women. Male professional sporting events dominate the airwaves, the
internet, and television. The only women’s sports that are given major
television coverage are generally tennis, and less frequently, golf. In their
academic paper entitled, ‘Gender in
Televised Sports: News and Highlights Shows, 1989-2009, Messner and Cooky (June 2010) utilising the United States
as their study, found that male sporting events received 96.3% of the airtime,
whilst women’s sports received 1.6%, and gender neutral topics 2.1%. Their
findings also demonstrated that ESPN’s nationally-televised programme, namely SportsCenter, allocated only 1.4% of its
airtime to coverage of female sport. Another noteworthy indication of gender
inequality within professional sport illustrated by this study was that 100% of
the SportsCenter programmes and also,
100% of sports news shows in their sample study led with men’s sports story, as
opposed to that of a female. In general it was observed that lead stories are
among the lengthiest story in the broadcast, containing the highest production
values. These statistics are indeed all indicators of gender inequality in the
professional sporting arena.
When asked if
she felt media coverage favoured men over women in the sports ground Coghlan
made a well substantiated point; ‘Open
any paper, turn on the sports news there is very little coverage of Women’s
Sport.I don’t necessarily just blame
media outlets as society is to blame for this and how we respect Women in sport’.
The Irish
Ladies Rugby Team won their first ever Grand Slam on March 17th,
2013, beating Italy 6 – 3 (The Irish
Examiner, 2013). Social media, broadcast and print media went into
overdrive. Suddenly we had a rugby team to be proud of. A mere two weeks
previous they had been catapulted into the limelight with a victory over
Scotland in the Six Nations Championship, when it was reported they were on
track to win their first ever Grand Slam, and given the mediocre performance of
the men’s side this year, all eyes turned to the ladies. The media wanted to
report the success story, and so the women’s side began to fill the column inches
and news bulletins for a number of weeks. RTÉ (2013) made the announcement that it would broadcast the Six
Nations female clash between Ireland and Italy. This was the first time the
state broadcaster had shown a live women’s rugby game. Prior to this, female
rugby was not broadcast, and was largely unreported in the media, despite the
international playing field upon which the ladies played.Ryle Nugent, Head of RTÉ Sport, said of the
decision to broadcast this game live, ‘This
is a significant investment by RTÉ in the women’s game’. This is
undoubtedly extremely offensive, and such an example emphasises the widespread
nature of gender inequality in sports coverage, and indeed society’s perception
of women in sport. Coghlan has potent opinions on this issue stating; ‘How many of Katie Taylor’s fights were
broadcast prior to the Olympics, very few. How many women’s rugby games were
broadcast prior to the Grand Slam decider this year, the answer is none. Now
that we have achieved success will these events be broadcast in the future,
probably not.’ Herein lies the saddening reality of gender inequality in
sport. Our female sporting stars are unappreciated, unacknowledged, and largely
unknown. They are representing our country remarkably with such sporting prowess
and athletic ability, yet they will merely amount to onetime headlines, only
when they attain the highest levels of success unlike their male counterparts
who enjoy headlines on a daily basis.
The Irish Times
(2004) published an article by Kevin
Myers in 2004 which was an attempt to absolutely demolish the credibility of
women in sport. His article was a reactive piece to a TD, namely Jimmy
Deenihan, and his suggestion that the Irish media needed to cover women in sport
more frequently. Myers, like previous studies alluded to earlier, pointed out
that the only sporting events worldwide involving women which attract large
crowds are those held in conjunction with men’s events, such as athletics and
tennis. His scathing attack on women in sport went so far as to insult their
sporting ability, stating ‘We don’t want
to watch women playing sports because, generally speaking, they’re not very
good. They’re small and they’re weak and they’re slow, and watching an average
woman thrown an object is a deeply moving tragedy.’ It was Myers belief
that the reason less images are dedicated to females in the sports pages of
newspapers, because it was the truth, that men triumph in the sporting arena
and so this should be showcased. Research conducted by Dublin’s Sport and
Recreational Council revealed that this notion that men should dominate the
sports pages has been subconsciously influenced by the reader’s perception of
reality. Coghlan also alluded to the need for a change in mentality for gender
equality to ensue, saying ‘we would need
society to have a shift and respect Sport for Sport and don’t make it gender
specific. This would take some time and I’m not sure it will ever happen.’
There is little academic
literature available in the realm of Irish sporting professional salaries
across both genders. The fact that female sports in Ireland remain amateur whereas their male counterparts play
professionally, and thus experience immense wages for the same level of
training and commitment may indeed explain the lack of research in this field.
However, in the United States extensive research has been conducted in this
area. It is unsurprising that the wage discrepancies are great. Massey (2012)identifies that a WNBA player in
the 2005 season had a minimum salary of $31,000 and a maximum of $80,000. Their
male counterparts in the NBA circuit during the same season enjoyed a minimum
salary of $385,277 to a maximum of $15.3 million. In soccer in the U.S., the
female team were given a salary of $25,000 each, whereas the men’s team
received $200,000 each. Such statistics reveal that gender equality in sport,
is but a utopian dream.
Kane (2011)
denoted that a vast empirical body of evidence has been amassed over the
past three decades which suggests that women are more likely to be portrayed in
such a way as to accentuate their femininity and heterosexuality as opposed to
their sporting proficiency. Academic research according to Kane, has suggested
that the media’s fondness toward sexualising women’s sporting accomplishments
reinforces their status as second class citizens. In doing so, this calls
gender inequality universally in all aspects of life into question. The
sexualising of media images of females in professional sport in fact suppresses
interest in and respect for women’s sport. One notable example is that of
Lindsey Vonn, an American Alpine Skier, who won gold at the Vancouver Winter
Olympics 2010. Vonn was the first American woman to achieve such an accolade,
and received the prestigious Sportswoman of the Year award from the US Olympic
Committee. Sports Illustrated, as
previously mentioned covers little female sports participation; however it
decided to devote a cover to Vonn given her attainment in the Olympics. Instead
of offering an illustration of Vonn as the incredible athlete she is, they
depicted Vonn as a sexualised object, and spoke volumes about the rampant
sexual representations of women athletes. This demeaning, derogative image
indeed would not have been conveyed had Vonn been male; instead an image of
strength and resilience would have been expressed.
Another such example is that of Irish female
sporting hero, Katie Taylor, before winning gold at the London 2012 Olympic
Games, faced adversity in her sport, boxing (Irish
Times, 2013). Taylor determinedly campaigned for women’s boxing to be
included in the 2012 Olympic Games. In the face of another sexist decision by
the International Boxing Association (AIBA) Taylor stood tall condemning the
decision to have women swap shorts for skirts to make boxing more attractive.
Taylor threatened legal action if the issue were pursued, and rightly so. There
now exists an option to wear either shorts or skirts. Imposing such a decision
would have added a disparaging element to the sport, and belittle the female
athletes having the AIBA utilising them for their nefarious ends, an attractive
sexualised object.
From the evidence provided above it is
undeniable that there exists a certain level of gender inequality in
professional sport. Academic literature and media coverage both suggest that
the road for men in pursuit of a professional sporting career is unquestionably
easier, and appears to favour them in terms of opportunities, salaries, media
coverage, respect, support and the perception the society has of their
successes in the sporting field. For women the road is laden with obstacles,
salaries are not on par to those of men, if they receive any salaries at all;
they are unrepresented in the media, unappreciated, unknown, subject to sexual
objectification on the grounds of their successes and in many cases, must multi-task
and maintain two careers, as the option to pursue certain sports as a female
professional simply does not exist.
Is your gender a drawback in professional
sport? Without a doubt! The evidence compiled above confirms this. It saddens
me to say, that men are indeed favoured over women, women do not enjoy gender
equality in the sporting arena.
As Fiona Coghlan said, ‘respect Sport for Sport, don’t make it gender specific’; and one
can only hope that in time society changes, as your gender should never limit
your career choices.
For now, unfortunately, your gender is a
drawback in professional sport.
One can best conclude with the Beyoncé classic ‘If I were a boy....’
Whilst women
are no long chained to the kitchen sink, female participation in the Irish political
arena is diminutive.
Half of the
Irish population are female, yet our democratic society affords us a government
in which only 15% of seats in Dáil Éireann are held by women. These statistics show
that Irish women are still not pari passu to men in the political arena.
Ironically, this meagre 15% constitutes a record high for women’s representation
in Dáil Éireann. In the world rankings of women’s parliamentary representation,
Ireland is now ranked in 109th place out of a possible 190 nations.
In the EU, Ireland is ranked in 23rd place out of 27 EU member
states.
Dáil Éireann
has always been a predominantly male playing field. Like the ‘Yorkie’ chocolate bar, it too
could boast the infamous ‘It’s not for
girls’ slogan. In the history of the state, at least 85% of the government
has always been male.
In 1918,
Irish women exercised their right to vote for the first time, and in doing so,
elected the first woman to parliament, Constance Markievicz. In the 95 years that
have since passed, a mere 91 women have been elected to serve in Dáil Éireann. At
present, there are no women TDs in 21 of the 43 constituencies.
Enough
statistics! What is it that constrains women from entering the political sphere
in Ireland?
Senator
Ivana Bacik conducted a study in 2009 to find the barriers hindering women’s
involvement in politics. Senator Bacik documented five reasons women choose not
to actively engage in politics. They were cleverly coined the 5C’s.
Candidate
selection: Political parties often act as gate-keepers in the selection of
women candidates.
Care: A biased
towards traditional gender roles still exist in Ireland.
Confidence:
Despite Irish women having a higher educational success than men, they lack the
confidence to enter the political forum.
Culture: In
Ireland, a political culture of male dominance prevails.
Cash: The reigning
gender pay gap ensures it is men that have access to greater financial
resources.
Despite the
waning influence of the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland, and a conscious move
from a conservative to a more secular society, Article 41 of Bunreacht na
hÉireann confined the role of the woman to the domestic domain. The notion of a
woman as a ‘bread-winner’ was considered absurd, instead, their place was
considered to be in the home. In 2012, the Central Statistics Offices released
its 2011 figures revealing that the role of the carer in the home predominantly
falls on the female; 500,000 women were looking after family compared with a
minute 9,600 men.
The gender
pay gap also lingers on in Ireland. A European Commission report released last
year detailed that Irish women earn 17% less than their male counterparts. Discrimination
against women, undervaluing of women’s skills, and a low number of women in
senior and leadership positions were cited as reasons for this pay gap. These
motivations also reflect why women refrain from entering politics.
President Michael D. Higgins, an advocate for progressive change on
equal pay for women, alluded to the fact that women outperform men in
educational attainment. The highest percentage of women graduates in Europe are
Irish. Women, he asserted, should be given a greater role in the new economic
model that is being built in Ireland to replace the one that has failed.
Consistent
with his optimism for greater female political involvement, President Michael
D. Higgins signed The Electoral
(Amendment) (Political Funding) Act into law on July, 28th 2012.
This act tackles the under-representation of women in Irish politics. 30% of
all party candidates must now be female at the time of the next general
election; the figure increases to 40% seven years thereafter. The penalty for
parties that fail to adhere to this act is a cut to their state funding.
Averil
Power, a Senator in Seanad Éireann, provides an insight into the female
mentality, saying “It simply never occurs
to many women that running for election is something they could do”. It was
the desire to achieve social change and tackle inequality that saw Senator
Power enter politics.
“The
research shows that women need to be asked and encouraged to put themselves
forward for election. Political parties in general have not been proactive enough
rather than approaching potential female candidates and encouraging them to
run”, Senator Power says when
discussing the candidate selection.
A salient
obstacle for women opting for a political career is the work-life balance.
Unlike other employers, the pressures, the workload and working hours
associated with a political career can be off-putting. “There is no entitlement to maternity leave for female TDs or Senators”,
explains Senator Power. There is a lack of adequate support systems and
facilities in place for women who are attempting to juggle family life with
politics.
Sacrifices must
be made at present if as a female you wish to pursue a career in politics. When
Olwyn Enright, widely regarded as a successful politician, announced her
decision to quit politics she cited family reasons as the main influence “With a young family, I will not be in a
position to give enormous commitment required and that my constituents
deserve”. Family reasons are never mentioned when a male politician steps
down.
Without
affirmative action Senator Power does not envisage that the number of women
involved in politics will ever grow in the future to equal that of their male
counterparts. Research
conducted suggests that there is conviction in Senator Power’s outlook, as only
five more women were elected in 2011 than in 1992.
Evidence
signals a positive element of female political involvement. Females active in
politics very often become role models for other women. To them, they are
confident figureheads, and many revere in their courage, strength and
contributions to the political forum. Notable examples in Irish society include
Constance Markievicz, Mary Robinson, Mary McAleese and Mary O’Rourke. Female
political involvement must not be but a history lesson. Gender balance in the
Irish government is gravely important for our country’s future.
Of the 4,744
Dáil seats filled since 1918, only 260 of those have been occupied by women,
and only 86 women during this time have served in Seanad Éireann. These are not
statistics to be proud of. It may be time the government reviewed the 85/15
Gender Divide that currently exists in Dáil Éireann.
What else would you expect from a
World Cup Qualifying game? Maybe a draw and an inept manager where the Irish
are concerned; undoubtedly the Ireland v Austria clash was eventful both on and
off the pitch.
It wasn’t the ‘Céad Mile Failte’ two unsuspecting
Austrian fans were expecting when they arrived into Dublin yesterday, a mugging.
Like any good tourists, the two Austrians were on route to the Guinness
Storehouse, only to have their wallets (which
contained their match tickets) snatched on the streets of Dublin 8. Their
plight was quickly highlighted by the marvel that is the social network forums;
Twitter and Facebook erupted. Whilst the public conveyed their sheer disgust at
the actions of their fellow citizens, the story came to the attention of the
Irish fan forum ybig.ie. Not only did the FAI offer replacement tickets for the
two Austrian fans, but in true Irish football fan style (Sure who can forget the Irish fans in Poznan during Euro 2012?) ybig.ie
organised a collection for the two unfortunate victims, and donations were made
by fans to reimburse their losses. The heroic Irish football fans to the rescue
once more.... #YBIG I’m sure the Austrians had holiday insurance... but ye didn’t
think of that YBIG, now did you?
And then the unbelievable
happened; Robbie Keane arrived at the Aviva Stadium to watch the match
accompanied by his cousin. OK, so Robbie Keane having a cousin isn’t quite
unbelievable, but what is? His cousin is Morrissey, the former front man of The
Smiths, and so Twitter went into overdrive once again. It was this story that
for many was the highlight of the match; Robbie Keane has a famous cousin!
Lastly, there was the minor issue
of the qualifying match, and Trapattoni’s Sammon
of Knowledge (or lack thereof)! Conor Sammon was selected ahead of Kevin
Doyle, the pandemonium that ensued was to some degree warranted. It appears
Sammon isn’t all that knowledgeable on the football field, and has quite a lot
to learn about the international arena. Quite simply he failed to make any real
impact on the game. The Ireland side had quite a promising first half, and two
Jon Walters goals before the break gave Ireland the lead. But then came our
demise, in the second half Austria dominated possession and quite rightly
deserved that equaliser, courtesy of David Alaba.
Full time Austria 2 – 2 Ireland .
And after a disappointing draw
the inevitable happened, out emerged the finger
of blame. Everyone points to the Italian. Trapattoni, when will you learn?
But he remains insistent; when asked if it is now more difficult to qualify for
the World Cup he replied “Why? We have
the same table. The situation has not changed. No change. We have five games
left and must play Sweden again”. Someone get the man a translator, I fear
he didn’t quite understand the question.
Dunphy denounced Trapattoni, “Trap
has no faith in Ireland”. Well he wouldn’t be the first now would he? But alas,
Dunphy’s invaluable contribution came when he announced at the end of the night,
“Trap doesn’t get our football culture”. Well
if I’m honest, I didn’t realise we actually had one!
Oh, and did I mention, Robbie
Keane has a famous cousin... Morrissey for god sakes, Morrissey!
