Book Panel: Pathways to Political Candidacy for Minoritized Women in Ireland

Abstract

Book Panel: Pathways to Political Candidacy for Minoritized Women in Ireland Book Summary This is the first research on the aspiration and candidacy of Traveller and other minority ethnic and migrant women(minoritized women) in Ireland, a significantly underrepresented group in local and national politics. In adopting an intersectional approach (Collins, 1990; Crenshaw, 1991), areas of difference and commonality between different groups of minoritized women are surfaced. The analysis emphasizes aspiration to enter politics and navigation of candidacy as contexts for examining the opportunities and constraints shaping minoritized women’s pathways to political careers. The book also includes interviews with minoritized women who were elected to political office. The research breaks fresh ground in this context in that it includes analysis based on interviews with advocacy organizations, training programmes for women in politics, political party representatives and officials. . The study contributes to a burgeoning scholarship that takes an innovative intersectional approach to the study of women and politics. For instance, it provides insights on the interaction between racialized, classed, ethnicized and gendered penalties for women seeking a public role (including familial and community responsibilities, marginalization by political parties, violent sexist and racist abuse, and harassment and intimidation on- and offline). The analysis includes a focus on political culture and institutions, theorized by drawing on ethnographic interpretations of feminist institutionalism and conceptualizations of the performative embodied and affective dimensions of political representation. While the focus of the research is on local politics, the introduction of a national candidate gender quota in Ireland in application since 2016 and the increasingly diverse population are important referents for the analysis. In this regard the book examines how political parties’ response to gender quotas and pressure more generally to increase the number of women in politics can limit their ‘capacity’ to embrace other forms of ‘diversity. This book panel brings together leading scholars on intersectional approaches to politics, Roma activism and politics in Europe, analysis of Irish and European politics and policy, candidacy and gender quotas to discuss a book that offers a qualitative account of how minoritised women assess and navigate local political candidacy in Ireland. Main points of discussion: What role can qualitative research with community leaders, aspirants and candidates play in assessing the meso level dynamics shaping minoritized women’s political ambition and candidacy? What can the book tell us about the impact of national candidate gender quotas on local politics and their implications for party political candidate strategies and demands for greater diversity? How do training programmes originated to support candidacy and office holding of majoritised women respond to diverse women aspirants? Given the emergence of far right forces in Ireland what can the book tell us about the implications of these trends for the candidacy and office holding of racialised women ? What insights can this case provide on the merits of intersectional approaches for understanding how gender intersects with race, ethnicity, class, and migration status to shape experiences of minoritised women candidates and office holders.

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