WOMEN MAKE up almost 24 per cent of political party candidates so far selected to run in next year's local elections, according to figures released to The Irish Times.
The figures indicate that the number of women elected to local authorities next year is likely to be lower than the number elected at present, and will fall far short of the EU and United Nations target of 30 per cent of women in seats.
The UN considers 30 per cent to be the critical mass to enable women exert meaningful influence on politics.
Just over 29 per cent of people so far selected to run for the Green Party are women, while current figures for the Labour Party show almost 25 per cent are women. Sinn Féin figures show 21 per cent women selected so far, while Fine Gael has selected just over 20 per cent.
And although almost 1,200 candidates have gone forward to be selected by Fianna Fáil, the party has declined to say what percentage of those are women.
Ireland does not fare well compared to other European countries when it comes to female political representatives. The most recently available figures, published by the EU in September, show Ireland is fifth-last in Europe for female representation at parliamentary level, with 13 per cent.
Only Slovenia, Hungary, Malta, Romania and Turkey have fewer women in parliament. Nordic countries lead the way for gender equality, with 46 per cent female parliamentarians in Sweden and 42 per cent in Finland. The Netherlands has 40 per cent. A report published by the EU, Women and Men in Decision-making 2007, says the reasons for the under-representation of women in power are structural and multifaceted, covering areas including childcare and parental leave as well as the internal structures of parliaments and political parties.
It found the most dramatic improvements in gender representation between 1997 and 2007 were in Belgium, which went from 12 per cent to 35 per cent. Ireland's representation declined over the same period. This was a direct result of positive intervention by the government, which passed a law insisting on parity among candidates, it found.
The report also said most of the countries that have achieved 30 per cent representation have done so using quotas, either adopted voluntarily by political parties or through legislation.
Rachel Doyle, head of outreach and development at the National Women's Council of Ireland, said Ireland's poor performance in relation to women was an indictment of our democratic process. "A true and mature democracy needs to be representative of the population it seeks to serve," she said.
She said the council had argued for a quota system, such as that operated in Belgium, to ensure women were represented.
She welcomed decisions by some political parties to aim for a quota of 30 per cent women on local election tickets, but said that figure was unlikely to translate into 30 per cent of seats going to women. The council would like to see at least 40 per cent female candidates, she said, though the European Women's Lobby was aiming for a 50/50 split. "In Ireland, when we argue for quotas, the argument fed back is that women should be elected in their own right," she said. "But if political parties don't take the responsibility to put women forward in the first place, how can they be elected?"
Labour has said it has a 30 per cent quota and has developed a mentoring programme to support women running for election. Sinn Féin also has a 30 per cent quota.
A spokeswoman for the Green Party said it had a 40 per cent female quota on internal committees and would aim to have the same quota for elections.
A Fine Gael spokeswoman said the party had issued a directive stating all tickets for town council elections should include at least one female candidate. However, the same directive does not apply to other local authorities.
A Fianna Fáil spokeswoman said the party operated no quota system "but continually works at all levels . . . to increase the participation of women".
