#FeministCommunities - NWCI’s Local Election campaign

Published: Friday, July 12, 2019

The local elections on May 24th were an important chance to increase women’s representation, and to elect more women to local authorities. We welcomed the increased number of women elected as Councillors in the Local Elections but we were disappointed about the missed opportunity to break the critical barrier of 30% of women’s representation in Local Government. 

More women ran than ever before, over 560 female candidates. Women now make up 23% of Councillors, up from 21% in 2014.  There continues to be a huge disparity in many rural communities in womens representation, some local authorities it is as low as 5%. A gender quota for Local Elections is a necessity if we are serious about achieving gender equality in political representation at local level.

We will continue to advocate for the delivery of key asks in our Feminist Manifesto for Local Government .