Cultivating women’s passion for politics: A voice from Ireland - Frances Fitzgerald’s wisdom
Frances Fitzgerald, a very successful woman in Irish politics.
Dar es Salaam. Frances Fitzgerald, a very successful woman in Irish politics, becomes a critical reference for the next women leaders in Tanzania.
At the invitation of the Embassy of Ireland, Mrs Fitzgerald participated in a high-level event on Women’s Political Participation and Leadership.
She is the success metric all women leaders should measure themselves up against.
Growing up as a shy girl, she never pictured herself becoming a political figure one day.
“I was very shy as a young woman. So my confidence took quite a long time to perfect,” the former Irish Deputy Prime Minister said.
Her background and experience in social work cultivated her interest in equality advocacy as did reading credible global feminist authors.
At the age of 42, she entered political life and was immediately elected at national level.
She admits that switching career from a social worker to a politician, was a difficult transition. Support from her family was essential to her success, as was support from her political party, Fine Gael.
Fine Gael, a centre-right, liberal-conservative party and the third-largest in Ireland, supported Mrs Fitzgerald to take on leadership positions.
“I am a long-standing politician. I have both won and lost at different times. I also had to move constituency.”
She sees politics as more of a contested space with women often being viewed as a minority group.
“In both Ireland and Tanzania, you are (woman) always in the minority; whether race, gender or religion; it is not easy to break through while belonging to such a group.”
Despite following a male-dominated career, she learned to love the political game itself.
“I believe in politics; I believe in systems and I believe in democracy,” the iconic leader said.
Frances represents 50 years of public service, 30 years in politics and 20 years in social work.
She held a number of ministerial roles: Business, Enterprise and Innovation (2017), Justice (2014-2016), Children and Youth (2011-2014) as well as being a former Deputy Prime Minister.
Frances also served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) and continues her work to advance gender equality in the G7.
Her thoughts on the High Level Women’s Dialogue event
Building on Dr Gwajima’s sentiments on Tanzania’s efforts to improve gender equality, she said: “I think Tanzanian women are very serious about their commitments. They are however impatient when it comes to finding a way into politics.”
Young women in particular need systematic pathways to become representatives in Parliament,” she said.
She highlighted five challenges and barriers that women face in entering politics: Care, Cash, Confidence, Convention and Culture.
She called for the need to redefine leadership traits to capture more of the feminine to ensure women’s perspectives inform political decision-making fora.
As Tanzania prepares for its general elections, the high-level dialogue provided a valuable opportunity for political leaders to learn more about the challenges women face in politics and how to address them.
