Sign the Claiming our Future petition for more women in politics

1 Mar 2011

If you have noticed how few women candidates appeared on the ballot sheets and on posters in this election, it is because this time fewer than 1 in 6 of candidates were women. The Dáil that is formed after the election is unlikely to contain many more women than the last one and we already had one of the worst records in the world for women's participation in politics.

Between 2007 and 2009, political parties received over €15 million under the Electoral Acts, one of the purposes of which is to 'promote the participation of women in politics'. Of this €15 million, the parties chose to spend less than a third of a million (€323,364), or 2% on the promotion of women.

As part of their programme for political reform, Claiming Our Future have started an on-line petition calling on the parties that form the new Government to amend the Electoral Act to ensure that it states that all political parties must promote the participation of women in politics, or they will have their funding reduced.

Claiming Our Future will deliver the signatures to the parties that will form the new government this Thursday while they are still agreeing the terms of the new Programme for Government.

We can help make this inequality history by starting now. If we wait we will still be talking about this at the next election and it will be too late. Sign the petition now and hit parties where it hurts, in their funding.

Tell your friends and family to sign too, and join the campaign for more women in politics.

You can read more about the figures behind this campaign, read the q&a or move straight to sign the petition here.