A Significant Increase in Women Elected in Tipperary, but a long way to go to have gender balance #LE24
Women for Election welcomes the significant increase in the number of women elected to Tipperary County Council but notes that there is still a long way to go to tackle the gender imbalance in local government in Tipperary and calls for gender quotas in local elections.
The nine existing women Councillors and three new women candidates from the total of 22 women running across Tipperary have been elected. This gives an increase from 9 to 12 women on the Council, coming in at 30% of the Council, of 40 members in total. Roscrea-Templemore is the only Local Electoral Area that has no women Councillor.
“We welcome the increase in the number of women elected to Tipperary County Council and salute the hard work that it took to get there from the candidates and their campaign teams” said Katie Deegan of Women for Election. “We commend the 22 women who stood in the election, 31% of all candidates.”
“More women at decision-making tables makes politics work better for everyone. Our local government will be stronger with better representation of the people it serves, and a balance of men and women involved”, continued Deegan.
“However, the pace of change is too slow. At the current rate, the people of Tipperary will have to wait for two more election cycles – 10 years – to address the gender imbalance on Tipperary County Council. We need to accelerate the pace of change and it’s time for gender quotas in local elections.”
“Women for Election will continue our work to inspire, equip and support women to run in local and national elections, ensuring that our local and national government truly reflects the diversity within our communities. Local Government also serves as a crucial entry point for women to national government, and if we are to change our world standing of women in national government – currently Ireland is 103rd in the world – we need to do much more to support more women to enter local government” concluded Deegan.
A live tracker of elected results sorted by gender is available here
