Appalling that only 28 of 102 candidates are women: Heenan

A LEADING academic said it is appalling that just 28 women out of 102 candidates are in the running for Northern Ireland’s 18 seats in the general election.

That was down from the 36 which ran in 2017, when 109 candidates contested the poll.

The UUP is running just one female candidate out of its 17 nominees.

Party leader Steve Aiken said they would love to have more.

“We are working with our young women coming through the party system and we’re trying to get them into positions of leadership going forward,” he told the BBC.

The DUP has selected just two women to run, while four females will run for Sinn Fein.

The SDLP and the Alliance Party are putting forward the most female representatives in the election, with eight and nine candidates respectively.

Ulster University’s Professor Deirdre Heenan, who also serves as a member of the Council of State for Ireland, said the figures were striking.

“The UUP’s figures are startling. It’s an appalling representation in terms of female candidates,” she said.

“When you look on Twitter, the pictures of people nominated are all male, as well as their supporters and other party members.

“In a wider context, the questions we have to ask are are the women not being selected or are women deciding politics is a nasty game?

“The numbers nationally provide important context: if our representatives in the House of Commons are made up of fewer females, that has consequences on the decisions that are made.

“Parliament and parties need to be diverse and reflect a range of insights.

“They need to reflect the population, and when you look at the candidates being chosen in Northern Ireland by parties like the DUP and the UUP, you do have to ask whether they reflect society?”

The SDLP and the Alliance Party are putting forward the most female representatives in the election.

The Greens are running one and pro-life republican party Aontu two. North Down is the only constituency without a single female candidate.

Ms Heenan added: “You can see why women might feel deterred, you see stories about personal attacks on appearance rather than policies.”

She said in recent years Northern Ireland had made gains when it comes to the representation of women across local government, but progress cannot be taken for granted.

“Parties need to be proactively supporting women. Alliance and the SDLP try and support new, younger candidates and female candidates,” she added.