Debate contribution: International Women’s Day 2025

Debate contribution by Ms Diana Armstrong on 4 March 2025.

MLA

Ms Diana Armstrong

Party at the time

Ulster Unionist Party

Date

4 March 2025

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

International Women’s Day 2025

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4833595

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I support the 2025 International Women's Day campaign theme, "Accelerate action", and I thank the chair of the Women's Caucus and its members for tabling the motion. Despite progress in recent years, as others mentioned, women still face significant barriers and biases, particularly in areas such as employment, caregiving responsibilities, gender norms and violence against women. In the Northern Ireland Assembly, we have seen remarkable progress in women's political participation. Today, we have a First Minister and a deputy First Minister, three Ministers and two junior Ministers who are women, but we also have 36 women MLAs, which is almost 40% of all MLAs. That is progress. In my constituency of Fermanagh and South Tyrone, four of the five MLAs are female, and it is great to see Áine here as well. However, there is still much more work to do to reach the 50:50 representation that is reflective of demographics in Northern Ireland. Indeed, I am the only female MLA in my party, which is a shame, as I know so many vibrant, successful women in our party who could make a great contribution in this place and would be welcome here. Women's voices are important in shaping the society that we all want to live in, so the challenge for all of us here today is to lead and create the conditions to allow others to follow into leadership and decision-making roles so that women's voices are equally represented. As women, we all know that our gender still faces disparities in the workplace and in career progression. Women feel the challenge in their career when they choose to start a family, with the knock-on effect that that may have on pay and progression. The Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency reports that 67·9% of women are in part-time employment and that about 31% of working-age women are economically inactive, often due to caring or family commitments. It is profoundly shocking that Northern Ireland has the highest rate of economic inactivity among women in the UK, and a contributory factor to that has to be that we do not have adequate and affordable childcare provision to support women in the workplace. Also, women who have given up their career to take on caring responsibilities find that, if and when they re-enter the workplace, they will have lost skills, career progression paths and important pension contributions for their future financial security. That is grossly unfair. Deep-rooted gender norms continue to influence women's opportunities and choices. Women remain under-represented in STEM subjects, partly due to gendered expectations in education and career guidance. However, the recent provision of apprenticeships in those sectors that is aimed specifically at female intakes is a positive and constructive development. Violence against women remains a major issue. In Northern Ireland alone, there were over 33,000 recorded domestic abuse incidents in 2023, constituting 20% of all reported crimes. Alarmingly, Northern Ireland is still one of the most dangerous places in western Europe to live as a woman, with 20 women having been killed as a result of domestic homicide since 2020. As the change-makers in this place, we must also ensure that we are working for a better and safer future for all. I hope that our contributions today will encourage even more women to step up and make their voices heard, whether that is in the political arena, the business community or civic society. When women thrive, Northern Ireland thrives. I thank each and every one of the Members who has spoken today. Their contributions were all powerful and passionate testimonies from women who are fighting for their communities every day. It is a real demonstration of the strength and determination of women across Northern Ireland.

619 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

Not flagged

Jev’s structured answers

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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