The making of a mayor
by Steven Knipp
From her outspoken views on racism to her advocacy for equality in politics, Dublin Lord Mayor Hazel Chu is used to fighting for a cause. As the first Irish-born person of Chinese descent elected to political office in Ireland (and the first to become mayor of a major European capital) her perspective is unique — she shares her thoughts on leadership, discrimination and her parent’s hometown of Hong Kong.
Hazel Chu and Family and Lord Mayor Coach; Photo Conor McCabe
“Social media has helped a lot of us keep in touch with each other, especially in these pandemic times. But it does have the massive drawback of allowing strangers to say things to you that they wouldn’t say to your face. There’s a barrier there that allows people to say anything without repercussions; there’s also a social disconnect. When growing up I was always taught to respect people — you would never imagine going up to a person and calling them a nasty name, but just recently, someone [online] called me, ‘a slanty-eyed c$#%.’
“People will now say such things because they feel they can hide behind a screen. Some people say this is also a new generational thing and I think that is true — especially when people are locked up at home and feel resentful. They become angry keyboard warriors and think they can say anything to anyone. That they can go out and discriminate against people. It’s just wrong.
“The Irish are, overall, wonderfully accepting [of women in politics]. I’m Irish myself and I can say that without being biased — but only 21-22% of the Irish Dáil is female, 21% in the Lower House. In the Council, with 949 members, only about 22% are women.
“So, in fact, we Irish are accepting of women in politics, but we still don’t have enough representation of them in public office! There are still far too many impediments to putting more women into politics. Childcare is a massive barrier — not only in Ireland but in many countries — and the gender pay gap is another, especially when people are first starting out. All of these barriers can create a confidence issue for women — some women come to think: maybe I shouldn’t be running for office. Maybe I’m not qualified enough?
“It’s true, no one told me I shouldn’t be running for office. But then no one encouraged me that I should run, while many of my male colleagues would have been told, ‘Yes, you should definitely aim for political office!’ In Ireland, much of politics is highly generational, with fathers passing their experience, their roles, down to their sons, and women can find it hard to break into this system. For me, my parents didn’t know anything about politics; I didn’t know anything about politics until college.
“For someone like me, it was a case of ‘who could I align myself to?’ Those are difficult choices for females, they can then become even more daunted about entering politics. So it’s not that Ireland is discriminatory towards women, rather, we are generally not very empowering towards them.
“Aside from his love for the [Martin Luther King] quote, ‘the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends towards justice’, President Barack Obama also noted that we’re in a far better place than we ever were. This is true. We’re all better off than we were during the Second World War.
“Yes, we’re now in a terrible situation with this pandemic, with so many people dying, and being out of work and being homeless. You get very grim and sad about what’s happening. But things keep on moving, no matter what we do. And if things keep going, all we can do is play our part and play it as well as we can in terms of taking care of each other.
“We recently had the passing of a titan, John Hume. He was actually an accidental politician and went into politics to do some good, to change people’s lives for the better and I think we need to follow his lead. This is not me being optimistic. It’s more me knowing that I have a duty, that this is the path I chose. And so it is my duty to try to help people — to change their lives for the better.
“My favourite thing about visiting Hong Kong is seeing my granny; she was my only family member over there. I was born in Ireland, but my mother found it difficult to mind me when she was working two jobs. So I’d go back to Hong Kong, stay a few months and then come back to Ireland. I naturally became extremely close to my granny and always love to visit her.”