Gender quotas have worked to increase the number of women getting elected in politics and should be looked at along with other measures to encourage women to become candidates, Northern Ireland MLA, Anna Lo of the Alliance Party told a Sinn Féin summer school at the weekend.
Ms Lo, who was the first China-born person elected to a legislature in Europe when she was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly in 2007, said quotas or other affirmative action steps were not popular and were often dismissed as unfair or demeaning to women.
“There is much we can learn from international examples of where the use of quotas and other measures has been successful,” she said. “We should learn from the examples of others, see what has worked, what has not and what alternative options are available.”
We invite our users to read the full article published June 29 2014
Gender quotas have worked to increase the number of women getting elected in politics and should be looked at along with other measures to encourage women to become candidates, Northern Ireland MLA, Anna Lo of the Alliance Party told a Sinn Féin summer school at the weekend.
Ms Lo, who was the first China-born person elected to a legislature in Europe when she was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly in 2007, said quotas or other affirmative action steps were not popular and were often dismissed as unfair or demeaning to women.
“There is much we can learn from international examples of where the use of quotas and other measures has been successful,” she said. “We should learn from the examples of others, see what has worked, what has not and what alternative options are available.”
We invite our users to read the full article published June 29 2014