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Report on Women in Politics and the Northern Ireland Assembly Together with Written Submissions

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Report on Women in Politics and the Northern Ireland Assembly Together with Written Submissions Assembly and Executive Review Committee Report on Women in Politics and the Northern Ireland Assembly Together with Written Submissions Ordered by the Assembly and Executive Review Committee to be printed 17 February 2015 This report is the property of the Assembly and Executive Review Committee. Neither the report nor its contents should be disclosed to any person unless such disclosure is authorised by the Committee. THE REPORT REMAINS EMBARGOED UNTIL COMMENCEMENT OF THE DEBATE IN PLENARY. Mandate 2011/16 Sixth Report - NIA 224/11-16 Membership and Powers Membership and Powers Powers The Assembly and Executive Review Committee is a Standing Committee established in accordance with Section 29A and 29B of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 and Standing Order 59 which states: “(1) There shall be a standing committee of the Assembly to be known as the Assembly and Executive Review Committee. (2) The committee may (a) exercise the power in section 44(1) of the Northern Ireland Act 1998; (b) report from time to time to the Assembly and the Executive Committee. (3) The committee shall consider (a) such matters relating to the operation of the provisions of Parts 3 and 4 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 as enable it to make the report referred to in section 29A(3) of that Act; and (b) such other matters relating to the functioning of the Assembly or the Executive Committee as may be referred to it by the Assembly.” Membership The Committee has eleven members including a Chairperson and Deputy Chairperson with a quorum of five. The membership of the Committee is as follows: Stephen Moutray (Chairperson) Pat Sheehan (Deputy Chairperson) Alex Attwood 1 Robin Swann 11 Paula Bradley 2 Gregory Campbell Trevor Lunn 3 Raymond McCartney Seán Rogers 4, 5, 6 Alastair Ross 7, 8 Caitríona Ruane 9, 10 1 With effect from 4 September 2013 Mr Conall McDevitt resigned as a Member; with effect from 7 October 2013 Mr Alex Attwood replaced Mr Conall McDevitt 2 With effect from 3 February 2014 Ms Paula Bradley replaced Mr Simon Hamilton 3 With effect from 1 October 2013 Mr Trevor Lunn replaced Mr Stewart Dickson 4 With effect from 26 September 2011 Mrs Sandra Overend replaced Mr Mike Nesbitt 5 With effect from 23 April 2011 Mr John McCallister replaced Mrs Sandra Overend 6 With effect from 04 March 2013 Mr Seán Rogers filled the vacancy created by the departure of Mr John McCallister from the Committee 7 With effect from the 1 December 2014, Mr Sammy Douglas replaced Mr Paul Givan 8 With effect from 8 December 2014, Mr Alastair Ross replaced Mr Sammy Douglas 9 With effect from 12 September 2011 Mr Pat Doherty replaced Mr Paul Maskey 10 With effect from 10 September 2012 Ms Caitríona Ruane filled the vacancy created by the resignation of Mr Pat Doherty from the Assembly 11 With effect from 9 February 2015 Mr Robin Swann replaced Mr Roy Beggs i ii Table of Contents Table of Contents List of Abbreviations and Acronyms Used iv Report on Women in Politics and the Northern Ireland Assembly Executive Summary 1 Summary of Recommendations 2 Introduction 4 Committee’s Approach to the Review 4 Committee Scrutiny 6 Committee Consideration of Key Barriers and Challenges 13 Committee Consideration of Positive Actions 19 Conclusions and Recommendations 27 Glossary of Terms 32 Appendix 1 Minutes of Proceedings 35 Appendix 2 Minutes of Evidence 61 Appendix 3 Stakeholder Submissions 139 Political Parties of the Assembly Alliance Party 139 Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) 145 Green Party in Northern Ireland (GPNI) 151 Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) 163 Sinn Féin (SF) 168 Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) 176 Other Key Stakeholders 183 List of Stakeholders Contacted 331 Related Correspondence 345 Appendix 4 Correspondence and other papers relating to the Review 351 Appendix 5 Assembly Research Papers 437 iii Report on Women in Politics and the Northern Ireland Assembly List of Abbreviations & Acronyms Used AERC Assembly and Executive Review Committee ALL Alliance DUP Democratic Unionist Party GP Green Party (Northern Ireland) IFRP Independent Financial Review Panel MEP Member of the European Parliament MLA Member of the Legislative Assembly NGOs Non-Governmental Organisations OFMDFM Office of the First Minister and the deputy First Minister OSCE Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe QUB Queen’s University Belfast SDLP Social, Democratic and Labour Party SF Sinn Féin TD Teachta Dála UUP Ulster Unionist Party WRDA Women’s Resource and Development Agency iv Executive Summary Executive Summary 1. The Assembly and Executive Review Committee is a Standing Committee of the Northern Ireland Assembly that was established to: ■ make a report to the Secretary of State, the Assembly and the Executive Committee, by no later than 1 May 2015, on the operation of Parts III and IV of the Northern Ireland Act 1998; and ■ consider such other matters relating to the functioning of the Assembly or the Executive as may be referred to it by the Assembly. 2. On 24 June 2014, the Committee agreed the Terms of Reference for its Review of Women and the Northern Ireland Assembly. 3. As set out in the Terms of Reference, the Review considered evidence on Women and the Northern Ireland Assembly in order to: ■ Analyse the key challenges / barriers facing women in relation to entry into politics in Northern Ireland and in particular this Assembly; ■ Examine potential existing initiatives which would assist women in relation to entry into politics in this Assembly; ■ Examine what are the merits of ‘positive actions’ that have been successful within the United Kingdom and Ireland and within other jurisdictions, and to consider their potential impact in the context of Northern Ireland and in particular this Assembly; and ■ Provide recommendations / conclusions on i to iii above, including initiatives / mechanisms to enhance the role of women already active in the political arena in Northern Ireland and in particular this Assembly. The Committee agreed that alternative electoral systems/models were outside the scope of this Review. The Committee concluded that: I. The under-representation of women in politics in Northern Ireland is a serious issue which must be addressed as matter of urgency. II. The Assembly and political parties play a key role in encouraging women to seek and secure election to the Northern Ireland Assembly. III. Civil society and the education sector have an important contribution to make in encouraging women to consider a career in politics. IV. The Executive’s strategies and policies if designed, delivered and appropriately funded can enable women at all levels of society to balance their caring responsibilities with a career in politics. V. The media plays an important role in informing society’s views about the work of female politicians and the contribution they make to political life in Northern Ireland. The Committee considered, but could not agree on, the introduction of quotas and legislation in respect of financial penalties for political parties should they fail to meet an agreed gender quota. 1 Report on Women in Politics and the Northern Ireland Assembly Summary of Recommendations Recommendations for Political Parties in Northern Ireland 1. The Committee recommended that political parties should consider developing targeted membership strategies to encourage more women to get involved and become members of their parties. 2. The Committee recognised that high profile female MLAs can act as positive role models and recommended that political parties should take this into account when making political appointments in the Assembly. 3. The Committee recommended that political parties should strive to develop mentoring programmes for aspiring politicians both at local government and within the Assembly. 4. The Committee recommended that initiatives designed to increase female candidacies are widely known and extensively promoted within a party, are given strong positive and public support by the party leadership and are communicated to supporters. 5. The Committee recommended that political parties review their internal media strategy to ensure greater visibility of female politicians. 6. The Committee recommended that, if not already provided, political parties should consider the introduction of diversity awareness training, advice and support available to party members involved in the candidate selection process. 7. The Committee recommended that political parties may wish to consider the introduction of measures to increase the number of female candidates being put forward for election. However, the Committee recognised that the decision on which, if any, measures to introduce remained a decision for the political parties. 8. The Committee recommended that political parties may wish to consider collecting and publishing anonymised diversity data on candidates. 9. The Committee recommended that if not already in place, political parties should develop policies relating to maternity and paternity leave for politicians and party staff. 10. The Committee recommended that political parties should develop procedures for dealing sexual harassment, discrimination and bullying if these are not already in place. Recommendations for the Northern Ireland Assembly 11. The Committee recommended that the Assembly should continue to engage with young women and school girls to discover why they are not engaging in political life and what positive initiatives could be brought forward as a result. 12. The Committee recommended that the Assembly should consider adopting measures from local, national and international best practice to create a gender sensitive Northern Ireland Assembly. 13. The Committee recommended that all initiatives designed to increase and support women in the Northern Ireland Assembly should be given strong support from the Assembly leadership. 14. Furthermore the Committee recommended that, where possible, the Assembly should consider how it can support political parties in implementing the recommendations from this Review. 2 Summary of Recommendations 15. The Committee recommended that the Assembly should establish a working group on a gender sensitive parliament.
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