Debate contribution: International Women’s Day 2025

Debate contribution by Ms Claire Sugden on 4 March 2025.

MLA

Ms Claire Sugden

Party at the time

Independent

Date

4 March 2025

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

International Women’s Day 2025

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4833576

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I beg to move

Thank you, Deputy Speaker. It is my privilege, as the current Chairperson of the Northern Ireland Assembly Women's Caucus, to move the motion. The motion is the second of the mandate to be tabled by the caucus, which is a united, cross-party forum made up of all current women MLAs. It aims to address the under-representation of women in politics in Northern Ireland and to highlight the importance of women in public life. The theme for International Women's Day 2025 is "Accelerate Action". It is a call to action to advance and celebrate women's equality worldwide. The theme of "Accelerate Action" has been chosen because, at the current rate of progress, it will take until 2158, which is roughly five generations from now, to reach full gender parity, according to data from the World Economic Forum (WEF). We want to lend our voices and use our positions as elected representatives to push for collective action and shared ownership for driving gender parity. International Women's Day has been around for over 100 years, as many issues still impact on the advancement of women. The world now rightly expects diversity, equality and inclusion. The world notices its absence and celebrates its presence. We have come a long way as regards the representation of women in political life in Northern Ireland, but we have not come far enough. The Good Friday Agreement contained a clause that affirmed the right of women to full and equal political participation, but women remain under-represented in all spheres of political life: the Assembly, Westminster and local government. Today, our count of women MLAs has reached 40%, 28% of Northern Ireland's MPs are women and approximately 26% of councillors are women: that is not adequate representation. The political landscape must not put women at a disadvantage. Our political systems must reflect the people whom they represent. It would be remiss of me not to welcome the fact that, for the first time, the majority — 58% — of those who sit at the table of the Executive Committee are women. It has also been recognised that the Northern Ireland Assembly has had a notable increase in female representation, which rose from 13% in 1998 to 36% in 2022. We know that women's full and meaningful political participation in public life helps to advance gender equality as a whole. However, we need to address the structural barriers. The caucus is working to address the marginalisation by focusing on what the barriers are and working to create targeted action to break them down and work towards a vision of Northern Ireland where women are equally represented in politics.

On 11 February 2025, the Women's Caucus hosted a networking event here in Parliament Buildings, to which we welcomed women local councillors from across Northern Ireland. The event allowed us to share lived experiences, which are key to understanding how to address under-representation of women in politics, how to identify what needs to be done to attract more women into politics and how to support more women in their political advancement. It is evident that support for other women and, notably, cross-party solidarity amongst women is increasing. Our Women's Caucus is an example of that, and so, united across party lines, we tabled the motion. The potential here is transformative for the Assembly and for Northern Ireland. I truly feel uplifted when I hear the passion for making a difference to local communities, and we hear that from our female representatives. In sharing our pathways, however, it became very clear that many women face barriers on their political journey. Such barriers include the hateful abuse and negative comments on social media and other online platforms, and there is more that we can do there. Personal safety is also a very real concern. Another is work-life balance, with a focus on the challenges presented by trying to juggle caring responsibilities. A career in politics needs to be seen to be achievable for those with caring responsibilities. The lack of adequate maternity leave for elected representatives is a further barrier. Council and parliamentary structures, such as the infrastructure, culture, operations and methods of work, can be a real and perceived barrier to full participation. When this Building was designed, it was designed by a man, without his being mindful of the fact that, one day, there would be women here. We need to change that in 2025. A lack of training available to elected representatives can also lead to feelings of isolation and imposter syndrome. I am sure that every woman in the Chamber has felt imposter syndrome. Confidence is gained through experience and support, but we cannot get that experience and support if we are not here doing the job. Last Friday, I attended the sitting of the Women's Parliament, where, again, the passion and commitment that is coming from women leaders in society was really evident here in this Chamber in Parliament Buildings. They shared their lived experiences, and they wanted to debate the issues that matter to them and to the people whom they represent in their communities. Some of the key areas highlighted were violence against women and girls, affordable childcare, unpaid work and, again, caring responsibilities. We have rehearsed many of those concerns in the Chamber over the years. Indeed, we have rehearsed them over the past number of days and weeks, but we must now see tangible change. We must use our voice to raise one another up, because we can benefit from that unity of approach. As a caucus, we recognise that the challenges faced by women remain the same, and they include juggling work and home; the need for maternity leave and childcare; the problems of gender-based abuse and isolation; and the need for resilience and self-confidence. The political landscape must not put women at a disadvantage. Our political systems must be reflective of the people whom they represent, and we are committed to working, as far as is possible, to address the structural barriers to women's full participation in public life. We are committed to an Assembly that is accessible to women and that facilitates equality of participation. We have agreed recently to undertake a gender-sensitive audit, and we look forward to seeing that work progress throughout this year. We know that, to deliver real change, we must think beyond the caucus and work together to combine support, resources and political will. We want to work in partnership with those wishing to support women who want to become further involved in politics, and we want to play our part in supporting and enabling women to take that leap into political life. We know that there is no shortage of potential political representatives and leaders. The Women's Parliament, just last week, was evidence of that, but we want to do what we can to nurture that potential into action and progression so that, when they get here, we ensure that they stay. As a caucus, we also want to support the women who are already elected to the Assembly. We want to make sure that women MLAs have access to ongoing learning and development opportunities. We are also very keen to learn from our counterparts in other regions of the UK and Ireland, to learn about and share how things are done elsewhere and to bring back that knowledge so that everyone can benefit from it. I urge the Assembly to support the motion, because together we can accelerate action for gender equality. I commend the motion to the House.

1,258 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 12:06 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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