All Male NAMA Board

sold

The recently appointed NAMA board is a all male group. Are there no qualified females in Ireland who could be on the board to give some balance.

Boston

Well is there? Is there a candidate you'd like to suggest? Also, balance in what way, its hardly likes economic and financial thought divides down gender lines.

sold

Boston wrote: »

Well is there? Is there a candidate you'd like to suggest? Also, balance in what way, its hardly likes economic and financial thought divides down gender lines.

Well seeing as they have drafted an american Stephen Seelig, If I were looking abroad I would have looked to Elinor Ostrom or maybe Carmen M. Reinhart.

Boston

Did they apply? What view points would they offer which the board doesn't currently encompass? Which board member was less qualified then these two women?

Fajitas!

Boston wrote: »

Did they apply? What view points would they offer which the board doesn't currently encompass? Which board member was less qualified then these two women?

As opposed to being any sexist statement, chances are the people on the board were chosen for being the most suitable in their fields.

bangersandmash

sold wrote: »

The recently appointed NAMA board is a all male group. Are there no qualified females in Ireland who could be on the board to give some balance.

Is the gender composition of the board really your largest concern about NAMA?

Let us hope that the board were chosen for their competence above anything else. I'm not sure that a €60bn gamble on the nation's future is the place to start experimenting with positive discrimination.

sold

Fajitas! wrote: »

As opposed to being any sexist statement, chances are the people on the board were chosen for being the most suitable in their fields.

100% agree most suitable for Nama job are men.

Boston

sold wrote: »

100% agree most suitable for Nama job are men.

You've avoided the questions posed to you and instead you've decided to be flippant.

Fajitas!

sold wrote: »

100% agree most suitable for Nama job are men.

Where did I say that?

No, you may not put words into my mouth, thank you very much.

Nolanger

sold wrote: »

The recently appointed NAMA board is a all male group. Are there no qualified females in Ireland who could be on the board to give some balance.

What kind of 'balance'? Why would a board consisting of ½ and ½ be better? Maybe the best people for the job are men? The country's future is at stake and this is not the time for 'political correctness'!

The Big Red Button

sold wrote: »

The recently appointed NAMA board is a all male group. Are there no qualified females in Ireland who could be on the board to give some balance.

I would much rather see the most qualified, experienced, suitable candidates get the positions, even if they are all men, than if the people choosing the board engaged in positive discrimination to bring in a few women.

Are there any members of the travelling community on the board? Should one of those be brought in too, just to "give some balance"? Even if there weren't any that were more qualified and experienced than the other candidates?

And of course, if you're going down that road, you'll need to include someone from each religion, race, sexual orientation, etc ...

Now, the fact that there apparently isn't any woman around who is as qualified and experienced as the nine members chosen - I suppose that that's a pity, and a possible reason for concern.

However I would be completely against bringing in a "token woman" just to be politically correct. I absolutely hate positive discrimination. The best, most suitable candidates should be given the job - simple as that.

Stark

Sure slap a bit of lipstick on David McWilliams and shove him in there.

Stheno

Eilish Finnan was appointed to the board as one of the nine, she's female?

From http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/finance/2009/1223/1224261160613.html

Eilish Finan

An independent consultant and director in the financial services industry, Ms Finan is a former chief financial officer of AIG Global Investments, a qualified accountant and electronic engineer. She is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland. She is the only female member of the Nama board.

Boston

nouggatti wrote: »

Eilish Finnan was appointed to the board as one of the nine, she's female?

From http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/finance/2009/1223/1224261160613.html

Lol, Burn Burn Burn

994

sold wrote: »

Well seeing as they have drafted an american Stephen Seelig, If I were looking abroad I would have looked to Elinor Ostrom or maybe Carmen M. Reinhart.

Yes, they are the only women to win Nobel Prizes in economics, but they're also ancient (75 & 76) and their background doesn't seem to be in the sort of stuff NAMA will be doing

Économiste Monétaire

Um, Reinhart didn't win the Prize in Economics.

imme

It's men that got us into this mess (Biffo, McCreevey, Fitzpatrick) and it's damn sure men that are gonna get us out of it.


Seriously though, I hadn't noticed that the board was all male, one thing that caught my eye in fact was the age profile of some of the board, some of them F Daly, W Soffe are older gents, that's what struck me tbh.
I think an appropriately qualified board is important, gender shouldn't be a consideration.

Agent Smith

sold wrote: »

The recently appointed NAMA board is a all male group. Are there no qualified females in Ireland who could be on the board to give some balance.

I Really Doubt Anyone on that board is qualifed in fairness...

shellykbookey

So what if the board is all men, its not something that matters, it cant actually sort out the banks cos its all a boys club and it wont be allowed. They're all matess thats how they got the jobs in the first place, how the fecked everything up and how they'll get off scot free with a massive golden handshake.. But sure why not make it like the news, one dark haired man one blonde hair woman or visa versa. We dont need a 50/50 split on everything for men and women, not at least untill the feminists start giving out that there arent enough women bin men and dead animal handlers. Feckin feminists making all of us without a y chromosone look like nutballs... Sigh!

Frances Ruane would be the name that would spring to mind as someone who is qualified - however, I doubt she'd go for it! The NAMA board would be a gamble.

vicecreamsundae

i don't think anyone was implying that "these men just got the job because they are men, and are probably not even qualified!". I'm sure everyone on the board is qualified.

but arguing with the idea of a woman being on the board by saying "well, there's no member of the travelling community on the board, should there have to be one of them too?" makes no sense.

i'd like to remind you all that women are not some kind of specialist, minority group. we are 50% of the population. so while I'm not saying it's a sexist conspiracy that there are no women [or one woman?] on the board, i think it's noteworthy that the representation of women on the board is unequal to that of the population. That's NOT to say that something must be done, that a certain number of men must be removed to make way for women to "keep the balance". Of course it doesn't mean that a woman would have some dramatically different perspective or solution than the men do.

But it IS a good enough reason to maybe question WHY the proportion of women in powerful positions in this country is hugely unrepresentative of the number of women in this country. That's a fair question, and no need to get on the defensive about how qualified the men on the board are.

Sure, maybe it was just a case that there were many more qualified and experienced men available for these positions than women, and then fair enough for the board being mostly male. But if that's the case, why is that the case?

Yes, there are some industries that women are less likely to enter, and in those cases, of course the numbers of women at the top of those industries are going to be smaller. However, we have to take our heads out of the sand and admit that women often [not always] seem to have limited opportunities for promotion etc. And yes, considering we are half the population, that is kind of a big deal, and not a trivial, nitpicking issue.
It's not about bringing in token women, it's about questioning WHY and HOW these unequal situations arise.

Whenever issues relating to equality come up, some people seem to get so defensive so quickly instead of just discussing the heart of the issue. Nobody is suggesting that we replace qualified men with "less qualified" women just to keep things even stevens!

amacachi

It's mainly because Economics is still a male-dominated field, and even if it weren't you still have to look a long way back. Usually with things such as NAMA the people on the board are those who've had long careers, so they will have qualified 30-40 years ago. Even now the proprtion of women in Economics is pretty low, and back then would have been even lower. Right down to secondary school it seems there's less interest in girls to get into Economics as my sister found out not long ago. Females are outnumbering males in a lot of academic areas, men outnumber women in some, I don't see why there has to be a lot of questions asked tbh.

In terms of academia the numbers have changed but it will take time for the results to show more clearly.