'Threats of violence' against rural women running for local election

Women running for an election have experienced “a complete refusal to use my proper name on multiple occasions or bypassing or trivialising my contribution” with one woman “being shouted at and told to leave politics to men” as well as being “laughed at and told my husband would be better for the job. I was given out to and told it wouldn’t be fair on my children and I was told I didn’t have the looks for politics”.

Also there were accounts of women being undermined by their party locally with Dr Michelle Maher, Programme Manager with See Her Elected (SHE), saying that “one woman recorded how at meetings there was an attack on her character and her point of view was dismissed. Demeaning language was allowed, and she could see that decisions were made outside of the official meeting. Another woman who had publicly said at a political meeting that she was thinking of going for election was accosted twice the following week by the elected representative and a supporter because in their opinion she would split the vote”. 

A statement to the Leitrim Observer from SHE continued that, "Women want to see political parties be much more proactive at stamping out abuse and harassment that happens within the setting of party meetings or which involves party members. Strong scepticism at the commitment of social media platforms to the safety of those in public life was also expressed, and women have asked the Task Force to tackle this."

She was speaking after women in rural Ireland who are getting ready for the 2024 local elections made their views on safe participation in public life known via SHE to a Task Force established by the Ceann Comhairle, Deputy Séan Ó Fearghaíl and the Cathaoirleach, Senator Jerry Buttimer in Leinster House.

See Her Elected (SHE), the award-winning Government funded programme to support women in rural constituencies to become county councillors, surveyed women attending their election workshops as part of their preparation for the 2024 local elections with incidences of abuse "catalogued by 52 per cent, with 48 per cent never having encountered abuse or harassment."  

Dr Maher continued that “at the very least political parties need to ensure those chairing meetings have the ability to recognise and address attempts of gender-biased commentary and address situations where party members create a less than supportive environment for women”.

The statement said that SHE are concerned at reports by women "of being targeted online and incidences and threats of physical violence. The organisation’s Staying Safe Online and Digital Self-defence workshops aim to equip women with the knowledge to reduce the opportunity for this deeply problematic behaviour to impact them. SHE are supportive of the Task Force’s ambitions to formulate proposals on how to safeguard and support participation in political life."

Dr Maher said: “Social media platforms are consistently identified by women preparing for local elections in rural Ireland as critical actors in enabling safe participation in public life. Women are sceptical about the platforms’ commitment in this area and would like to see proposals from the Task Force that will see responses to complaints dealt with swiftly and properly, make it more difficult for people to set up multiple accounts, and overall take responsibility for what is on their platforms”.

Dr Maher added that “there is support for the Task Force and an Oireachtas-led response from women in rural Ireland, but this is tempered somewhat by uncertainty at the effectiveness of a Dublin-based response at the local level in rural Ireland. We received observations from women asking that the current members of the Oireachtas lead by example in always promoting civil discourse in public life”.

The free online See Her Elected election workshops are again on September 18 and provide advice on running in the local elections including canvassing, communications and social media strategies. The same workshop runs three times each week; at 8pm (Mondays), 7am (Tuesdays) and 1pm (Thursdays). Everyone who registers gets a free copy of the SHE Guide to Running in the 2024 Local Elections, which can also be downloaded for free from See Her Elected’s website www.seeherelected.ie

Anyone interested can register at www.seeherelected.ie or email admin@seeherelected.ie / ring 086 0320455.