Offaly election hopeful calls for support for female candidates for International Women's Day

Offaly Local Election candidate Clare Claffey has called for people to show support for female candidates to mark International Women’s Day which falls on Friday, March 8. 

The Social Democrats candidate in the local elections has called on people across Offaly to mark the day by pledging to support women standing in the Local and European Elections, which will be held in May of this year.

Claffey said “It’s been widely discussed that Offaly County Council has no female elected members. Of course this wasn’t always the case, we’ve had strong women working hard for their communities across the county in the past, and I’m confident that we will again."

A number of female candidates have been confirmed for the Offaly election in recent months, including independents, the greens, Fine Gael, Fianna Fail, Sinn Féin, as well as the Social Democrats. 

“It’s come up on a lot on the doorsteps, and people want to see the council being more equitable and more representative of the whole community," Claffey stated.

"The only way that this will happen is if people check out what women are running in their areas, and decide to vote for them in May. There are female candidates across the county now for most of the major political parties, and that’s great to see. So while I hope people will vote for me – there’s actually plenty of choice across the political spectrum. Wouldn’t it be great if we had several women returned to Offaly County Council in May?” she continued.

There are no gender quotas for political parties in the local elections, but Claffey highlighted the difference between the Social Democrats and some of the other parties, in terms of the numbers of women standing for election.

“Of the 58 Social Democrats candidates formally selected for the local elections, 57% are women." She claims this contrasts with a figure closer to 20%-30% for Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael candidates.

"I think it says a lot about the culture of a party when you see a strong gender balance among its representatives," Clare said.

"Women can bring a lot to the political table, with a different style and approach to problem-solving. People who say they’re not interested in politics, that government doesn’t reflect their values, that it’s just ‘more of the same’, need to think about how we can change that."

"One way is to elect more diverse candidates – more women, more young people and more people from a wide range of diverse backgrounds, to change how things are done, to challenge the old ways of looking at things and to start to really represent all the people of Offaly."

"I urge you to check out which women are running in your area and see if they are in line with your values and beliefs. And if they are, vote for them.”