Women’s group calls for end to political gender gap

POLITICAL parties should be forced to run an equal number of male and female candidates in future elections, according to the National Women’s Council of Ireland.

Speaking after the launch of a damning National Women’s Council of Ireland (NWCI) survey on female participation in politics, group director Susan McKay said the dramatic move was needed to end the “disastrous” gender gap in Dáil, Seanad, and local councils.

According to the NWCI survey, based on a sample of 90 female local election candidates across working age groups, women are continuing to be effectively blocked from entering mainstream politics due to “misogynistic” attitudes among the main political parties. Among the main issues they face are intimidation, bullying and sexist attitudes, a situation the survey said contributed to the “disastrous” results in last month’s local elections, when just 16% of successful candidates were women compared with 19% in 2004.