Ms Rachel Coyle:

A chairde, thank you very much for the invitation to this discussion. The NWCI is the leading national representative organisation for women and women’s groups across this island. This year we are celebrating 50 years since our foundation in 1973.

The ambition of the council is an Ireland where every woman enjoys true equality, and no woman is left behind. This ambition cannot be fully realised until there is equal representation of women in public and political life. Today we will address some of the structural challenges and barriers that prevent women from achieving true equality. None of these exist in isolation but challenge women concurrently when accessing opportunities for education, leadership and political roles. We remind the committee that, in taking the following challenges into consideration, women’s experiences are wholly diverse. Additional factors such as membership of the Traveller community or other ethnic minority communities, being an LGBTQ+ woman, being a migrant woman or a disabled woman, what your income or educational status is or where you live in Ireland, like in rural Ireland all intersect with gender as these women face additional barriers to achieving full and equal participation.

We warmly welcome the announcement earlier this year of a referendum on care, equality and the family. The referendum is necessary to open a national conversation on the value of care and how essential it is to the functioning of our society. At its most basic, it aims to remove the outdated and sexist language of Article 41.2 of the Constitution. It is a provision which, as noted by the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, CEDAW, “perpetuates traditional stereotypical views of the social roles and responsibilities of women... in the family and in society at large”. Despite huge changes in women’s participation in paid work over previous decades, this culture has allowed women to continue to bear the greater responsibility for unpaid care. This implied discrimination is a major challenge to women accessing education, leadership and political roles. The stereotyping of women has led to a culture where women’s ambitions are hampered by the perception that they are stepping beyond the appropriate scope of their assigned role. Research indicates that 45% of women and 29% of men provide care for others on a daily basis. Women with children carry out an average of 43 hours of care per week and men only 25. Even when the hours spent on paid employment are taken into consideration, women still carry out more hours of care than men per week. Of those whose main activity is looking after home and family, nearly all - 94.3% - are women.

Caring responsibilities continue to be a key barrier for people considering entering and remaining in politics. This does not simply affect women but councillors we have engaged with tell us they feel they have a triple shift: they do their paid work, the caring for children or other family members and then their political office work. Women continue to be forced to choose between their career in public office and their family commitments. With the lack of affordable childcare across the State, the same choices face women in employment and education.

This particularly affects women from already disadvantaged groups, like Traveller women, migrant women and lone parents, who might not have the access to family support networks. The lack of gender parity and diversity can mean crucial decisions which affect our lives are being made without us. We need to see family-friendly practices encouraged in our political and educational institutions. We need to do more to ensure our educational and political institutions are attractive to women and those with additional needs. We ask members of the committee to take into consideration our toolkit for local authorities on supporting family-friendly local government. This toolkit, while aimed at local authorities, is just as relevant to this institution because it outlines methods for embedding more family-friendly practices.

Income disparity and poverty, exacerbated by the soaring cost of living, are a barrier to women’s participation in education and public life. Almost half of women earn less than €20,000 per year. Some 86% of lone parents are women and lone parents are three times more likely to be pushed into consistent poverty than the general population. One in four lone parents reports being in arrears on utility bills. People with disabilities and those unable to work due to long-standing health problems continue to be at a much higher risk of poverty. Among Traveller and Roma, 31% live in households affected by severe material deprivation.

Heading to college or running for election seem pretty unrealistic when your primary concern is keeping food on the table and gas in the meter. The provision of quality public services, particularly childcare, is essential for reducing poverty and improving access to education, political participation and decent work. Political parties are best placed to create pathways for women into elected politics and need to commit to supporting women. This does not just mean building individual women’s capacity, which they should do, but also reviewing and often overhauling internal party processes and cultures.

Abuse, particularly online, of women in politics and public life is widespread and unrelenting. Research undertaken in 2020-21 revealed female councillors received eight times as many abusive tweets per follower as their male colleagues.

A study we commissioned on women’s experiences of the 2019 local elections reported high levels of sexist abuse and stalking and for ethnic minority candidates, racist and sexist abuse. Another study of ours found that 35% of women councillors have experienced sexual harassment or sexual misconduct in their political role. This abuse is a barrier. Not only does it impact women by preventing them from accessing and carrying out their leadership roles but it has a chilling effect because it deters those women who might consider running for election in the future.

To ensure equal participation of women at all levels of our democracy, gender quotas must be extended to local and European elections. As many of the committee members present will be familiar with, local government is a key pipeline for national office. Men are shy of 50% of our current population but hold 74% of local government seats. This gender balance has significant implications for candidate selection processes for general elections as a result. Without targeted action, the pace of change is unacceptably slow. While measures to erode the structural barriers that prevent women from entering public office and to support women as candidates are vital, these must be happening in parallel with quotas.

We are encouraged by the steps taken by this committee to open a discussion regarding these challenges and look forward to working with it to find solutions.