Before the results of last night’s Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) presidential election were announced, we already knew a great deal about our next TCDSU president. They would have ran on campaigns that promoted diversity, equality and inclusion, yet they would be white, and they would be male. While we congratulated ourselves on the gender balance that was found in this year’s sabbatical election race, with female candidates providing a majority across the welfare, communications and marketing and education races, the fact that there has only been one female TCDSU president since 2004, and no female presidential candidates for the past two years, cannot go unaddressed.
There is no need to argue that Trinity has an abundance of accomplished women on its campus. That fact is a given, and one that we are all reminded of on a daily basis. What is problematic, however, is the fact that women who are exceptionally qualified, experienced and passionate do not present themselves for the position of the leading representative of students, when they are just as capable, and sometimes even more capable, than the male candidates decide to do so. Speaking to The University Times, TCDSU President, Kieran McNulty, was quick to affirm that this pattern across campus is “difficult to understand”, citing the number of female members on Union Forum and the large proportion of female class representatives that sit on TCDSU’s council. While the union has been seen to make efforts in the past with the advent of women in leadership workshops, it is becoming increasingly clear that these efforts in their current form are not adequately succeeding in encouraging women across campus to run for sabbatical elections.
Given that the number of women in sabbatical officer positions in general has reverted back to one out of five, I think it’s a safe assumption that the SU could be doing by more to support women running to sabbatical roles
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2014 saw the introduction of the Women for Leadership’s INFORM campaign to Trinity, under the direction of then-TCDSU Education Officer, Katie Byrne. In the year that these workshops were introduced, eight out of the 16 election candidates were female, including former TCDSU President, Lynn Ruane. Campaigns to encourage women to run for such leadership positions continue to be held on campus today, the latest example of which being held in November last year, with a mind to engaging female candidates and encouraging them to run in the recent election. Speaking to The University Times via email about the effectiveness of the efforts of the current students’ union to encourage women in leadership, Byrne was assertive: “Given that the number of women in sabbatical officer positions in general has reverted back to one out of five, I think it’s a safe assumption that the SU could be doing by more to support women running to sabbatical roles in general, not just the presidential role.” However, Byrne remained confident in the abilities of Women in Leadership workshops, whilst also recognising their limitations: “The effectiveness of workshops really varies depending on a lot of things, for example the individual taking the workshops, the facilitator. However, the main thing is that the SU openly and publicly supports women running for election. Having the workshops and resources there for women is an important message to them about the SU’s commitment to them as candidates and helps them develop confidence and belief in their own abilities.”
While this sentiment is indeed true, such workshops are not without their flaws. Namely, they pose a danger of being recognised as an adequate solution to the issue of women in leadership, when this could not be further from the truth. When speaking to The University Times, Annie Hoey, President of the Union of Students in Ireland (USI), exhibited a unique understanding of the capabilities of Women in Leadership workshops and their limited potential to encourage women to run for the role of president, owing to the fact that they are often aimed at a very specific group on campus: “The Women in Leadership workshops as a concept are designed to be targeted at women who are already running, if you will.” While encouraging women who have recognised that they are suitable candidates to put their name on the ballot is essential, encouragement should also be provided to those who would never consider putting themselves forward for a leadership role. In order to achieve this, Hoey argues that students should redefine what leadership means to them: “I’ve found over the last two years when I’ve been involved with USI Women in Leadership is that it is the actual concept of what people perceive as leaders and what women see as leaders sometimes does not fit with the student union structures that we currently have, in terms of running to be the elected head of something, and that is a concept that is changing across the board, actually, in terms of what are leaders, and different kinds of leaders.”
Even with this more nuanced approach to Women in Leadership workshops in mind, Hoey admits that “we will not solve the issue of women’s participation in student politics by only relying on Women in Leadership workshops. There is a whole cultural shift that has to happen. The Women in Leadership workshops are incredibly important, and I think they are one of the proudest things that USI does – we really strive to make that campaign as inclusive and diverse as possible – but that won’t solve the problem on its own”.
In order to actually challenge that it will take a very sustained, constant campaign
This notion that there will always be more that can be done to encourage women to get involved in leadership is a fundamental attitude that must be maintained by the newly elected sabbatical officers moving into the future. By acknowledging the limitations of our current efforts, we can become actively engaged with an ongoing and ever-changing cycle of striving to do better. This kind of attitude will also lend itself to more sustainable approaches of encouraging women into leadership roles. Hoey notes: “I think when we talk about women in leadership or women in leadership roles it needs to be sustainable things. It has to be a constant affirmation and encouragement. Unions around the country do them at different levels of success. It is something that has to keep going, all the time. I think that is why you see that it is not uncommon historically for women to not have been the most prominent, or who have not put themselves forward the most for the position of president, and in order to actually challenge that it will take a very sustained, constant campaign.”
A campaign of this kind is far from beyond the ability of TCDSU. Indeed, as demonstrated over the past number of months, the union continues to prove itself capable of fighting for issues that its students care about. TCDSU needs to recognise, however, at a time when the threat to women’s bodily autonomy has once again come to the fore, and in a manner that shows no sign of disappearing any time soon, that the issue of the representation of women in college is something that the student body cares deeply about. With this in mind, it is essential that TCDSU makes sustainable changes to its approach to women in leadership, so that in one year’s time, the electorate will not once again be met with a ballot of all male presidential candidates.
