Opinion

Allison Morris: I reckon as a blonde I should now qualify for minority status

DUP leader Arlene Foster has been criticised after describing Sinn Féin's northern leader Michelle O'Neill as "blonde"
DUP leader Arlene Foster has been criticised after describing Sinn Féin's northern leader Michelle O'Neill as "blonde" DUP leader Arlene Foster has been criticised after describing Sinn Féin's northern leader Michelle O'Neill as "blonde"

As of this week I reckon as a blonde I should qualify for minority status, given the political discrimination people of my hair colour have been subjected to.

The interview given by Arlene Foster during which she was asked to describe her Sinn Féin counterpart in one word was a remarkable insight into the relationship - or lack of - between the DUP leader and Michelle O'Neill.

Mrs Foster had to be pushed to get involved in a word association game for an interview with the Sunday Independent.

Leaving aside that given she's a senior, serious political leader and not some Z-list reality star being interviewed for a supermarket magazine, she should have swerved the question completely.

But when pushed as to the one word she would use to describe her female counterpart, out of all the descriptive words in the English language she settled on 'blonde'.

It was followed by a flowery description of Ms O'Neill's perfect make up and hair but the damage was already done.

Those defending Mrs Foster's latest gaffe exclaimed, 'can't you even pay a woman a compliment now?'

But in this case context is everything, this wasn't two mates discussing outfits on a night out, this was the leader of a political party talking about the leader of a rival party.

To observationally point out that Michelle O'Neill is blonde is a fact, she has for sure got blonde hair. But blonde in the context of the conversation Mrs Foster was having is very different.

Blondes have been at the end of jokes about their intelligence for years, dressing an insult up as a compliment doesn't make it any less of an insult.

If asked to describe Margaret Thatcher, the woman Arlene Foster said influenced her politically, I doubt she'd have said 'blonde' and then qualified with additional comments on her pristine dress sense.

There are currently three female leaders of major political parties in Northern Ireland.

Arlene Foster, Michelle O'Neill and Naomi Long.

This should be welcomed as progress but does not necessarily mean better or fairer conditions for women in Northern Ireland.

For that to happen, women need to give others a hand up the ladder and not pull it up behind them.

The DUP leader has no reason to be kind to Sinn Féin, her personal dilemma over attendance at Martin McGuinness funeral a reminder that she is not made of stone but a victim of IRA violence.

No one expects sisterly love and solidarity between two leaders whose politics are worlds apart.

But knowing herself how difficult it can be for a woman to head up a party in a still misogynist and patriarchal Northern Ireland Arlene Foster should have avoided falling into the trap of judging her rival on her appearance.

While I've never in all my years as a reporter felt the need to play word association with politicians I interview, this did provide Mrs Foster with an opportunity to slate her rivals performance politically, instead she went for the lowest common denominator, and that was disappointing.

The heavyweights in the DUP must have had their head in their hands when they read the comment - Mrs Foster was after all giving a frivolous lightweight interview, what could possibly go wrong?

After the crocodile comments helped mobilise the nationalist electorate prior to the March election, the DUP leader has since been choosing her words carefully.

All interviews with the unionist leader have been carefully vetted, the Irish News political correspondent John Manley has been conveniently overlooked by the DUP press office on many occasions as have other political journalists prone to ask difficult questions.

This suggests the party is keen to avoid scrutiny or give an opening to DUP rivals ahead of next month's snap election.

And yet even with that micro managing Mrs Foster still managed to score an own goal in what should have been the safest of safe interviews.

Sinn Féin called for Mrs Foster to stand aside last Christmas to allow an investigation into RHI to take place.

Her refusal to do so and the late Martin McGuinness's resignation as we now know ended ten years of devolution.

The party must be rubbing their hands in glee now that she held firm, for while there may be plenty of jokes about dumb blondes the last laugh was not the DUP's.