WOMEN FOR ELECTION HOPING TO TURN THE TIDE
WOMEN candidates in the upcoming local elections attended a training workshop in campaigning and media which was organised by Wexford Local Development in association with the national organisation Women for Election.
The four-hour workshop which was attended by 18 women including three of the county’s four sitting councillors, was held in response to recommendations from participants in a Women for Election conference in Wexford Speigeltent last October.
In the 2014 elections in County Wexford, 60 out of 70 of the candidates were men, which was 86% of the ballot. Of the 10 women candidates, four were successful and after the election, they accounted for 12% of the Council seats.
The highest female respresentation was in Enniscorthy where three women candidates contested the election and two won seats; four candidates ran in the Wexford district and one was elected, two ran in Gorey and one won a seat while one candidate ran without success in New Ross.
In the forthcoming election, 17 out of declared 62 candidates in Wexford are women, representing 28% of the ballot, which is an improvement on five years ago.
National research has shown that the main barriers to women putting themselves forward for election are Cash, Childcare, Confidence, Culture and Candidate Selection.
The training was open to female-identifying candidates and campaigners and was provided free of charge by Wexford Local Development with financial support from the Social Inclusion and Community Activation Programme SICAP which has a focus on gender equality.
Pat Montague of Montague Communications who has worked with many non-profit organisations including trade unions, public sector agencies and non-governmental bodies, gave a masterclass in election campaigning while journalist and PR professional Sheena Madden, an award-winning radio documentary maker and founder of Amplify Agency, delivered a workshop on media strategy.
The event opened with contributions by Wexford’s sitting councillors, Barbara Ann Murphy, Bunclody; Mary Farrell, Kilmuckridge and Marie Doyle, New Ross who were very generous in their sharing of information and their experiences, according to WLD Community Development Co-ordinator Marie Louise Byrne.
‘ The workshop was really quite skills-based and also an opportunity for people to network. The candidates were asked to leave their politics at the door, and they did’, she said.
Fianna Fail councillor Lisa McDonald was unable to attend as the event coincided with her election campaign launch by party leader Micheál Martin.
Among those who participated were Wexford candidates Jane Johnstone, Maura Bell, Colette Nolan, Annette Byrne Moran, Bridín Moloney and Rita Leacy from Waterford. The national CEO of Women for Election Ciarín de Buis was also in attendance.
It was the first time that such a training course has been conducted in Wexford, with Women for Election beginning to roll out similar programmes around the country.