Sen

1
Senát Parlamentu Ceské Republiky Tools to
promote balanced representation of women and men
in politics A view from Ireland January 25th
2016
2
ABOUT US
3
Women for Election who we are?
The Vision of Women for Election is an Ireland
with balanced participation of women and men in
political life
The Mission of Women for Election is to inspire
and equip women to succeed in political life
4
What do we do?

• Training, mentoring, support for women to take
  them on the next step of their political journey
• Demystify access into politics
• Build cross party movement of women, nationally
  and internationally
• Grass roots and non-partisan approach

5
Our Values

• We take an inclusive approach to our work. We
  aim to support women to engage in politics
  regardless of their
• Political affiliations
• Age
• Class
• Ethnicity
• Religion
• Sexual Orientation
• We believe that the support of men is essential
  for Women for Election to deliver its mission
• We take a collaborative rather than adversarial
  approach to working with other organisations,
  institutions and groups within the political
  landscape
• Women for Election will never use its position
  to promote or stand against any specific
  political view

6
(No Transcript)
7
WHY WE EXIST
8
Why we exist

• To provide a practical solution to the problem
• 16 of Dáil (27 seats) are women
• 95 women ever elected to Dáil Eireann
• 21 women elected at city and county council
  level

9
Why we exist

• Only 15 women ever sat at Cabinet in Ireland
• Our parliament has never been less than 84 male
• Progress on bringing women into political has
  been slow and stunted
• Of the 4,744 parliament seats filled since the
  first election in 1918, only 262 (6 per cent)
  have been occupied by women.
• 89th Irelands ranking globally, after North
  Korea and just ahead of South Korea and Libya
  (IPU, 2016)

10
Known Barriers

• The 5 Cs
• CANDIDATE SELECTION
• CULTURE
• CASH
• CHILDCARE
• CONFIDENCE

Common Sense.
11
Why it matters

• The 4 Ps
• Process
• Priorities
• Policy
• Power

12
SOLUTIONS IRELAND AS A CASE STUDY
13
SOLUTIONS

• Gender Quotas
• Electoral (Amendment) (Political Funding)
  Act 2012
• 30 quota for political party candidates at
  general election levels
• Rises to 40 from 2019
• Failure to comply 50 cut to annual state
  funding
• Interacts with political parties

• Women for Election
• Training, Mentoring and Support for women
• National advocacy campaign
• Cross party network of women interested in
  politics
• Introductions between talented women and
  political parties
• Interacts with women (women at school,
  university, community, business levels and
  political parties)

14
SOLUTIONS

• Gender Quotas
• Hard measure Legislative solution
• Tackles challenges around candidate selection
• Attempts to interact with systemic issues
• Acts as a mechanism for change behaviour of
  political parties

• Women for Election
• Softer measure women focused
• Tackles challenges that women themselves face
• Demystifies politics and promotes political
  engagement
• Acts as an advocate for societal and cultural
  change

15
Women for Election Top line strategic overview
Broader talent pool to innovate and face
challenges
More robust political and policy decision making
Greater social cohesion
A more representative democratic system
The top line issues at stake
A more balanced participation of men and women in
political life
Women for Elections solution
Lack of a roadmap to initiate political engagement
Lack of supportive environment to articulate a
political ambition
The barriers
Lack of awareness of the necessary skill-sets
Culture that perpetuates male dominated politics
To inspire and equip women to succeed in politics
Women for Elections strategy
Tiered training programme
Networking and connecting
Communications and advocacy
Direct support
Outcomes for women in politics
More women aspire to a political life
Increased numbers of capable women candidates
Increased numbers of elected women
Increased political participation by women
16
Programmes

• INSPIRE
• Confidence, Campaign Strategy, Communications
• All parties and Independents

• Mentoring and coaching
• Empowerment
• Masterclasses in problem areas
• Access to Research
• Media Opportunities
• Discussion Forum
• Networking Events
• Introductions
• Campaign Services
• Advocacy

• EQUIP
• Irelands FIRST Political Campaign School
• 3 day intensive residential
• All parties and Independents

• INFORM
• Tailored workshops (Universities, Community
  Groups)
• Entry level political discussion
• Community Activism ltgt Government
• Universities ltgt Political activism

• INTERNATIONAL
• Working with women from 17 EU States
• Women for Election AU Launched Jul 2015

17
Women for Election Our theory of change

• Communicating and campaigning on the issues and
  the need for change
• Fundraising to bring donors on board as champions
  and network builders
• Enabling women in politics to meet, learn from
  each other and make valuable peer connections
• Challenge and call out any sexism in politics
• Specifically highlight research pointing to
  socio-economic benefits as a result of increased
  female representation

Growing the movement of women for election
More women aspire to a political life
Inform
Increased numbers of capable women candidates
Inspire
Equip
Support for candidate women
Support for elected women
Increased numbers of elected women
Increased political participation by women

• Enable elected women to access coaching and
  job-relevant supports
• Prepare newly elected representatives to succeed
  in their role
• Enlarge national and international networks of
  elected women

• Enable participants to define and nurture their
  political ambitions
• Participants learn the tools and techniques to
  run an effective election campaign and maximise
  their winning potential

• Strong advocacy campaign with extensive media
  support for all candidates

• Recognise relevance of politics to participants
  lives
• Encourage participants to influence their
  political system

• Understand the realities, requirements and
  challenges of political life
• Commitment to engage in the political system

18
Women for Election Our theory of change

• As indicated earlier, our emphasis on
  individual parts of our pipeline will change
  depending on whether we are operating in election
  or non-election year. The two diagrams below
  illustrate and discuss this differing emphasis

Strategic emphasis during an ELECTION year
Strategic emphasis during a NON-ELECTION year
2016, 2017, 2018 (see Appendix for details)
2014, 2015 (see Appendix for details)
Growing the movement of women for election is
independent of electoral cycle
Growing the movement of women for election is
independent of electoral cycle

• Emphasis on our Inform-Inspire-Equip suite of
  direct support programmes
• Reaching 850 women through Inform 2013-2016
• Reaching 350 women through Inspire 2013-2016
• Reaching 75 women through Equip 2013-2016

Little if any work in relation to candidate women

• Our programmatic offerings will be scaled down to
  a lower level compared to a non-election year
• In a election year we expect to maintain Inform
  sessions at 50 and Inspire sessions at 25 of
  the non-election year levels.
• Equip will run at the same levels as a
  non-election year, i.e. 1 programme per year

Major emphasis on and advocacy and
communications based programme of work to promote
ALL women candidates during an election year
Our work for elected women will be remain at a
reduced level in non-election years
Our work for elected women will peak during the
immediate post election period
19
The story so far Local Elections 2014

• 800 women have completed WFE core programmes in
  Ireland EU
• 190 of those contested local or EU elections in
  Ireland
• 30 increase in numbers of women running at 2014
  Local Elections versus 2009
• Of 949 local government seats, 194 women were
  elected. This is a 33 jump since 2009 figures of
  148 and female representation at Local Government
  is now 21, up from 16 in 2009
• At a European level, for the first time, there
  are more women representatives. 6 of the 11
  Members of the European Parliament from Ireland
  are women with 2 of the 3 new female MEPs having
  come through a Women for Election programme.
• 50 of women elected at local level have been
  trained by Women for Election

20
The story so far General Election 2016

• 145 female candidates running so far. 30.5 of
  candidates are female
• 2011 GE 86 female candidates ran representing
  15 of overall candidate numbers
• All of larger parties are running over 30 female
  candidates
• 85 female candidates from larger parties have
  already run at some level
• All constituencies bar 1 have a woman the most
  ever
• 26 of 40 constituencies have over 30 female
  tickets
• Independent female candidates has doubled (from
  12 to 25)

21
What has changed

• Political Parties actions
• Forced to select women and they do
• Discourse
• Constituents actively recognising value of women
  in politics
• Womens engagement
• Seeing opportunities
• Media Coverage
• Interesting stories
• More female voices on air

• Women for Election
• Identified training needs specific to national
  elections
• Engaged at some level with all female candidates
• Training and networking
• Advocate on behalf of female candidates in
  particular around controversial selections
• We have become to go-to organisation for media
  on this topic

22
Thank Youwww.womenforelection.iefacebook/womenf
orelectionTwitter _at_women4election
23
Women for Election What do we do?
https//www.youtube.com/watch?vqOL2q_XLNmA