Women Candidates Create History With Largest Ever Representation In General Election

This year’s General Election promises to set records with record-number of women candidates ever. Statistics from the Women for Election group indicate that out of the contestants 248 are women, this is a huge achievement for women in Ireland political realm. It’s a 53% increase compared to the 2020 General Election, indicating that more people are getting into politics in an attempt to close the gender gap.

Noteable Surge in Women Candidates

The increase in women candidates in the General Election 2024 is as per an assessment conducted based on nominations available published by the Returning Officers for the 43 constituencies of Ireland. 

The nominations finally closed at noon yesterday and 685 candidates are in the race for the election. Interestingly, there is at least one women candidate in each of the constituencies and new women candidates are getting elected every time proving that women in Ireland are coming forward to not just vote but also actively participate in political processes.

Such a trend is progressive, as the 2020 General Election had at least one woman candidate in each of the constituencies. The momentum has clearly moved forward giving ways to more seats and better representation on political level in Ireland.

Gender Quotas and Their Significance

This year’s General Election also means that political parties will have to observe the 40% women candidate’s list . This quota requires that not less than 40% of candidates who are nominated by respective political parties are women (or men) failure to which State funding is reduced by fifty percent. 

These sanctions could amount to several hundreds of thousands Euros for the large parties and serve to illustrate the necessity of reaching the quota.

To date, all Parties with representation in the Dáil have complied with this provision. This achievement is not only good for gender quotas but for the activist groups and political rulers for the improvement of the political power distribution.

Women in the Dáil: Progress and Challenges

Till date, women candidates are poorly represented in the outgoing Dáil and, out of 160 TDs, only 37 of them are women which means women make up only 23% of TDs. In addition, 15 of the 43 constituencies are still without any women TDs, which throws light on inequality in representation.

The historical figures paint a sobering picture: since the foundation of the State, there have been 131 women who were ever elected to the Dáil, but 1,214 men. This imbalance alone shows why women have long struggled to gain a foothold in politics and achieve success there.

Women Candidates Representation In The Cabinet

The proportionality of women candidates in Cabinet has a sad narrative of inequality as well. There have been only twenty one women who have held a position in the Cabinet in Ireland. 

The first woman in the cabinet was Countess Markievicz who served in 1919. However, the second woman, Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, didn’t enter until 1979, a gap of 60 years in between.

To this very day, the number of women candidates occupying the highest offices of the Irish political system remains modest. There has been no woman who held the position of a Taoiseach, Minister of Finance or Minister for Foreign Affairs. 

Furthermore, there has never been a point where more than four women have ever been in Cabinet at the same time, a hint at the slow progress of change in top managerial posts.

Equality And Empowerment

The highest number in the participation of women candidates in this general election is a breakthrough. It shows not only the emerging desire of the females to participate in politics but also the rising society’s expectations concerning the equality of the two genders. 

This progress is as a result of lots of efforts from organisations such as Women for Election, which has gone extra miles in ensuring that more women come forward to participate in politics.

But the road travelled is not long. Although the 40% gender quota has been a good start, it will still take some more time to find a place in the political parties for more women.

What Does The Future Hold?

Of the 248 women candidates who stood for the parliament, one must admit that Ireland is gradually changing, but this fact also indicates the amount of work that needs to be done. 

Closing the gender divide within the latter framework will entail not only conduct of more women election campaigns and participation but also, winning of more female electoral victories and functional leadership.

This election is an opportunity to change the right direction in terms of increased diversity and equality for voters. It is not only adding the number of women candidates but it is adding up hope and changes, for it is a society which is reducing biases and becoming fair.

Ireland can strike a remarkable deal at achieving the goal of having a society that is fairly represented in the political arena by voting for women candidates into political offices.

This General Election, where a record number of women have come out to participate in the search for electoral democracy, could be a significant moment in the struggle for women’s political rights.

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