Local elections gender quotas worth considering
The introduction of gender quotas forced the main political parties to run more female candidates in the last General Election.
In reality, the measure impacted mainly on Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil, who both had a woeful record in the area, despite paying it lip service over the years. Of the 551 candidates in last year's General Election, 163 were women. That ratio of 29.6pc was well up from 2011, when 86 of 566, or 15.1pc, were women.
The measure worked and the main parties themselves saw the benefit.
