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50:50 members from across Ireland, of all generations, will gather today in Seanad Eireann. They will sit proudly in the public gallery to cheer the introduction of the Gender Quotas Bill into the Seanad.

They are there to witness history in the making – as the legislation which proposes to introduce a 30% gender quota for candidates of political parties at General Elections is debated.

Parties that fail to meet the quota of women candidates will face a 50% reduction in their State funding.

God speed the Bill’s journey through the Oireachtas & onto the statute books.

As we take this small but important step towards gender equality in political life, we are reminded that this is an historic day.

As Carol Hunt’s blogpost so eloquently outlines, we owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to the women who have gone before us who have fought for equality of representation.

Today, it is up to us to continue that fight.

We mustn’t be complacent…
the process of lobbying & agitating for real change in our society must continue at every level – local, national & European.

For the quota legislation to be meaningful – and to work – it must be extended to Local Government.  Local politics is often the training ground for national politics – it is where politicians cut their teeth, learn the ropes & build their networks of support.

At local level we will find good female candidates.  There are so many women doing tremendous work for their local communities, day-in-day out.  The National Women’s Council estimates that there are in the region of 22,000 local groups around the country led by women.

To meet the 30% quota, the political parties need to find 170 female candidates.

Last Autumn…
I was in Cork to see 11,000 women partake in the Cork mini-marathon.  The streets were alive with women of every age, colour, class & creed. Every one of those women was wearing a tee-shirt advertising a local cause. They were raising money for local hospitals, local schools, local shelters – that’s politics.

To these women I would say:
turn your local passions into local politics.  Join a political party and get involved.

To the political parties, I would say:
go out and ASK these women to run.

If there was one recurring theme through the recent conference in Dublin Castle on How to Elect More Women it was this: women like to be asked.   Political parties need to do more asking.

For the rest of us…
who believe in an equal society, who believe that our country would benefit from having our laws made by women & men, I would say you have 3 things to do:

–         in your circle of family and friends, ask one woman to run for politics,

–         lobby your local representative to implement quotas at local level

–         join a local branch of the 50:50 Group & get involved.

I have a 6 year old daughter who thinks she can be anything she wants when she grows up.  I have a dream that – when the time comes – she can also include politics on her list.

Edel Clancy is national chair of the 50:50 Group