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.

“The results of the local elections in June were disastrous for women’s equality,” said Ms McKay.

“It is clear from the results and from cross-party feedback that the NWCI has received by way of this survey that the National Women’s Strategy is needed now, more than ever,” she said, adding that recent social welfare cutbacks underlined the argument.

“An Bord Snip Nua is an example of this, with five men and one woman making up the membership of the group. Had women been equally represented, perhaps proposed cuts to child benefit, special needs education, programmes designed to address women’s inequality, tackle violence against women, alleviate poverty and build communities could have been avoided.

“Over 80% of survey respondents from around the country agree that we need a critical mass of women in power now.”

According to the survey, 81.4% of respondents believe women should automatically take up 40% of all political positions.

A further 47% said the current political system makes it difficult to balance family and work life, while a quarter of respondents said a perceived lack of support from senior party members is continuing to act as a “barrier” to a more balanced situation.