Sandra Overend MLA has hit out at Environment Minister Alex Attwood after he announced that he is currently taking legal advice on whether he has the power to insist on quotas of female candidates in future council elections.
The Mid Ulster Assembly said:
“I am deeply disappointed to hear that Alex is currently taking legal advice over whether he has the power to introduced quotas of female candidates in future council elections. Any candidate who is chosen to represent their party in an election should have been selected on merit, not to tick a box.’
“I do not believe for a minute that quotas will do anything to encourage women to get involved in politics in Northern Ireland, quite the opposite in fact. Introducing quotas will leave candidates feeling that they have been selected purely to meet the quota, not because they are considered to be the best person to represent their party.’
“During my time as the Ulster Unionist Party’s women’s development officer, I co-ordinated the Parker Programme were we had many discussions around how to get more women involved local politics. When I asked them if they felt that quotas were the way forward the women taking part in the programme strongly disagreed and said that they felt that parties should instead be actively working to change the culture within their membership and encouraging women to come forward for election.’
“After the 2007 election the UUP had no female MLAs, we recognised that this was a problem and our then leader, Lord Empey created the role of a women’s development officer to address this. We have since reaped the rewards and significantly increased our female representation at the last election.’
“I also think that when Stormont begins to deliver for the people more women will become involved. When you look at community groups throughout Northern Ireland the majority all have women at the fore, because they are able to actively change their communities for the better through this work. Currently the make-up of our Assembly isn’t very diverse and this is because Stormont isn’t relevant to many local people. We need to see more delivery and more common sense government.’
“I hope that the Environment Minister does not pursue this idea as it would be a backwards step for equality.’