Women can’t be elected if they don’t stand

I welcome Anthony Leavy’s letter (Irish Examiner, January 19) as a valued contribution to the gender debate in Ireland.

Women form 50% of the electorate, yet they fall far short of that figure in our national parliament and at local authority level.

I have been involved in politics all my life and have been privileged to act as a public representative for the last 10 years at national and local level. I have always maintained that a woman’s voice should be heard at representative level, not necessarily because they have something better to say but because they have something different to say, and that opinion must be represented.