National Women’s Council of Ireland supports the Labour Party’s Electoral (Gender Parity) Bill 2009

Published: Sunday, March 01, 2009

On this, the week of International Women's Day, the National Women's Council of Ireland (NWCI) is highlighting the low numbers of women in decision-making positions in Ireland and is calling on all political parties to support the Labour Party's Electoral (Gender Parity) Bill 2009 which will be moved in the Dáil today, Tuesday, March 3, 2009.

At present, 13% of TDs in the Dáil are women. This percentage has only risen by 1% over the past 10 years. At this rate the National Women's Council calculate that it will take 370 years before the gender balance in the Dáil chamber is equal. 20% of elected members on Local Authorities are Women and 16% of membership of Regional Authorities are Women.

The NWCI has consistently been calling for quotas to achieve gender balance in our national and local government. But it is clear to the Council that the slow pace of change to achieve gender balance in our elected positions requires legislative reform.

The NWCI supports the Labour Party's Electoral (Gender Parity) Bill 2009 to place conditions on the funding of political parties so that in order to receive full payment under Part 111 of the Electoral Act 1997, parties would have to work towards achieving gender parity in relation to the candidates put forward for election.