Mairead O'Shea: Women drive local community groups but perceive politics as a job for someone else

Gender balance is a major issue at local council level and is particularly bad in rural areas; this needs to change

Any increase in female participation in politics has largely been evident in the Dublin and greater Dublin area with an almost 50/50 gender breakdown but the story is unfortunately very different in rural Ireland.

When we talk about women in politics, some people might ask why do we need more women to become involved in electoral politics or why does it really matter?

At See Her Elected, our first answer is always — our council chambers need to be more reflective of the society we live in.