This paper presents findings and conclusions from a Phd study which investigated the gendered nature of cabinet government in Ireland. Using a feminist institutionalism approach, the study was concerned with addressing three key research questions namely 1) to what extent is cabinet government in Ireland a gendered institution? 2) how and to what extent does the presence of women in Irish cabinet government disturb the gendered norms of the institution?; and 3) does the gendered disposition of cabinet government in Ireland influence women ministers’ performance of gender? The study examines the access to, composition of, and portfolio assignment within Ireland’s cabinet government since 1979, the first time a woman was appointed cabinet minister since Constance Markievicz’s largely symbolic appointment to government in 1919. The study extends the usual line of enquiry in such investigations to interview (former) female and male ministers about their experiences of cabinet. By doing so it reveals a series of gender dynamics that occur as a result of women’s presence in this male dominated space as male and female ministers negotiate their co-existence. It illuminates the complexities and expectations that women encounter surrounding the performance of gender in a gendered environment. It argues that while the formal face of cabinet government in Ireland is increasingly becoming more gender balanced as more female bodies enter the institution, a deep rooted masculine institutional culture and informal dynamics sustain gender power arrangements conferring advantages on male ministers in the conduct of their job.
