New campaign encourages more women to enter and remain in politics

The NWC is launching a toolkit to provide information to those with care responsibilities on how to interact with politics

Women are forced to choose between a career in public office and family commitments, according to Orla O’Connor, director of the National Women's Council. Picture: Maxwells

A new campaign to increase the number of women in politics is commencing today.

The National Women's Council (NWC) is launching a new toolkit in order to help women enter and remain in politics.

Local and national politics continue to be dominated by men, who hold 75% of council seats. Gender imbalance in local government has significant implications for general elections, as local government is a key pipeline for national office.

The toolkit will be launched by Minister of State for Planning and Local Government, Peter Burke.

Speaking in advance of the launch, Mr Burke said: “My department and I have a longstanding and fruitful relationship with the NWCI, and were pleased to be in a position to provide funding for this vital toolkit, which explores the measures local authorities, and councillors themselves, can take to make local government accessible to those with caring responsibilities.

"The solid, practical recommendations contained within should provide the perfect launch pad for some important conversations around family-friendly practices in local authorities, and have the potential to generate real change.

This toolkit recognises that, while the issue of care disproportionately affects women, it also impacts all people who have caring responsibilities. Therefore, the toolkit is relevant to all councillors — who are caring for children or for an older, ill, or disabled person.

"As a former councillor with a young family, I can appreciate the time pressures involved and how often my councillor role impacted on family time. 

"These caring responsibilities can significantly affect multiple aspects of people’s lives, presenting a barrier to women’s participation in political life in particular. We know this is often the primary contributing factor in the under-representation of women at local government level," he wrote in the toolkit.

In 2021, the Citizens Assembly on Gender Equality called for urgent action to provide the family-friendly policies needed to diversify politics.

NWC director Orla O’Connor said: “We need more women involved in the decisions that shape all of our lives. Yet still, in 2022, women are being forced to choose between their career in public office and their family commitments. 

"This toolkit is intended to help drive change, so that it becomes normal to see women with young families in decision-making spaces.

Lack of maternity leave and affordable childcare are preventing women from entering into and staying in politics. 

"This particularly affects women from already disadvantaged groups. For example, Traveller women are more likely to shoulder caring responsibilities, migrant women may not have access to family support networks, and lone parents may not have the support of a partner. 

"The lack of representation for these groups can mean crucial decisions which affect their lives are being made without them.” 

The toolkit includes a 10-step plan for embedding family-friendly practices, including the development of parental supports such as maternity leave and childcare. It also recommends that good hybrid working practices are retained.

Women continue to be underrepresented in local government, currently holding only 25% of council seats. This is a marginal increase from 21% after the 2014 local elections. Only ten councils have 30% or more women councillors. 

There is also a significant urban and rural disparity in women’s representation, with many rural councils having less than five women councillors.

 In 2019, urban areas overall were considerably more gender-balanced than rural Ireland. Women accounted for 35% of candidates in urban areas and 23% of candidates in the more rural constituencies. 

Concluding, the Minister said “organisations like the National Women’s Council play an important role in tackling the barriers faced by women when considering getting involved in local government, and I look forward to continuing our work together to make our council chambers more reflective of the communities they serve”.