Women make up more than half of the population, but they are just a quarter of our elected leaders in local government.

And not only has progress stalled, in many areas, it’s going backwards. There are 13 councils with less than a fifth of female representatives. 

In Donegal, only 8% of local politicians are women, with Mayo, Longford and Carlow only barely getting above 10%. 

Areas that had previously come close to gender parity, such as Dublin City Council and Dun Laoghaire Rathdown have dropped to 40% and 33% respectively, showing a decline in the progression of gender balance at local government level. 

Our democracy is strongest when diversity and equality are embedded in our political representation. 

Women have had to overcome significant historical disadvantages in securing representation and great success has been achieved. But in 2024, women continue to be grossly under-represented in local politics, especially women from minority and marginalised backgrounds. 

A new report commissioned by the National Women’s Council and carried out by Pauline Cullen and Claire McGing highlights the barriers which prevent women from entering politics to begin with, and the gendered challenges which they continue to face when they are successfully elected. 

The report, 'Beyond the Dáil: Access, Representation and Retention in Irish Local Government', was based on a survey carried out with women councillors serving in local government since 2019, including women co-opted into councillor positions.

For example, women councillors often work a “triple shift”, combining care responsibilities with paid employment and public representation. 

Significant safety concerns arising from online and offline abuse, and a lack of support and action in handling such abuse deters many women from running again.

Women on average carry out 21.3 hours per week — the equivalent of a part-time job — on unpaid care, compared to a man’s average of 10.6. 

Coupled with this uneven distribution of care work is a public services crisis, from a lack of reliable, affordable childcare to inadequate systems and supports to care for family members.

This perfect storm of inequality means women’s lives are dominated by caring for others, in a way that men’s lives are not. 

For many women, this is not a choice they make, it’s a result of embedded sexism in our society. 

Not only do we need a shift in care, we need to reform local government to create new structures that recognise care and so that those who are elected can reasonably expect to balance work and life commitments.

From National Women's Council research, the low pay of council work has disproportionate effect on younger women, lone parents, working-class women, those with a disability, Traveller and migrant women. 

Efforts to achieve gender parity and greater diversity in local government have failed to address the issue of low pay. 

Full-time work for part-time pay is not only unfair, it actively ensures women from marginalised backgrounds can’t participate in local government. 

We won’t change the diversity of local government if the position is only accessible to those with enough wealth and security to take the financial hit of doing the job. 

Political parties must actively support women candidates at local level. 

Women dominate the community and voluntary sector in Ireland, providing them with invaluable knowledge and lived experience of the needs of their communities, especially for marginalised and disadvantaged groups. 

These women must be supported by political parties to stand for election and selecting women for co-option, ie the process of filling a seat when it becomes vacant. 

Political parties must also put women forward for election, in winnable seats. 

It’s not enough to say they support gender equality; they must demonstrate this by ensuring gender diversity of candidates being run in constituencies and allocating resources to women candidates to get them elected.

In the recent local elections, the two largest political parties — Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael — failed to achieve gender balance with their candidate selection (25% and 29% respectively). 

These parties won the largest amount of seats in the election, with the lack of gender balance now reflected in the councillors elected. 

We can’t achieve equal representation in local government if we don’t have balance at the candidate selection stage. 

Gender quotas are successfully implemented at national level, it’s now time to do the same at local level. Co-option is also an entry route for women into local government, making the re-election process more feasible because the person is already known by the community.

Following the 2019 local election, an additional 75 women were made local councillors through co-option. 

It’s a proven, effective way of increasing participation and diversity in local government. 

We need diversity of experience, we need the representation of diverse women, we need equality and fairness enshrined in our local government. 

We need the full participation of women in politics and, to counter-act this historic and ongoing imbalance, we need gender quotas at local level.

• Orla O'Connor is director of the National Women's Council