DEVOLVED ELECTIONS 2003
NORTHERN IRELAND
ASSEMBLY ELECTION, 2003
The long awaited elections
to the Northern Ireland Assembly took place on Wednesday 26 November
2003. Sinn Féin, with seven, has the most women
elected. The SDLP has five women MLAs, and the DUP, UUP and APNI each
has two women MLAs. The list of successful female MLAs and elected
women as a proportion of party seats can be viewed here >>>>.
Although the number of female MLAs has increased to eighteen, unfortunately
some former MLAs who stood were not re-elected. These include Monica
McWilliams and Jane Morrice of the NIWC, and Dara O'Hagan of Sinn
Féin. Annie Courtney stood as an Independent Nationalist, and
Pauline Armitage stood for the UK unionist party, but neither were
re-elected.
In the run up to the election, once again Sinn
Féin nominated the most female candidates with 12 of their 38 candidates
being women, although Alliance, at 38%, had the largest percentage
of women from among their candidates. See Table 1.
While Northern Ireland's parties nominated fewer women than those
in other devolved regions, the figures are better than during previous
periods of devolution. All female candidates are listed on a separate
page. Total numbers of men and women candidates are listed by
constituency in Table 2.
Table
1: NI Assembly candidates by
gender, 1998 and 2003
|
Party
|
Election
|
Women
|
Men
|
Women
%
|
%
change on 1998
|
|
UUP
|
2003
1998
|
4
4
|
39
44
|
9
8
|
+1
|
|
SDLP
|
2003
1998
|
6
6
|
30
32
|
17
16
|
+1
|
|
DUP
|
2003
1998
|
4
4
|
36
30
|
10
12
|
-2
|
|
Sinn Féin
|
2003
1998
|
12
8
|
26
29
|
32
22
|
+10
|
|
Alliance
|
2003
1998
|
8
6
|
13
16
|
38
27
|
+11
|
|
NIWC
|
2003
1998
|
7
8
|
0
0
|
100
100
|
Not applicable
|
|
Others
|
2003
1998
|
8
13
|
64
96
|
11
12
|
-1
|
|
Total
|
2003
1998
|
49
49
|
207
247
|
19
17
|
+2
|
Table
2: NI Assembly candidates November
2003, by constituency,
|
Constituency
|
Women
|
Men
|
Women
%
|
|
East Londonderry
|
4
|
10
|
29
|
| East
Antrim |
2
|
17
|
11
|
|
North Antrim
|
1
|
11
|
8
|
|
Foyle
|
4
|
9
|
31
|
|
West Tyrone
|
0
|
12
|
0
|
|
Fermanagh/South Tyrone
|
4
|
8
|
33
|
|
Mid Ulster
|
2
|
10
|
17
|
|
Newry and Armagh
|
2
|
11
|
15
|
|
South Down
|
4
|
12
|
25
|
|
South Antrim
|
1
|
13
|
7
|
|
Upper Bann
|
2
|
12
|
14
|
|
Lagan Valley
|
4
|
9
|
31
|
|
Strangford
|
1
|
12
|
8
|
|
North Down
|
4
|
15
|
21
|
|
North Belfast
|
4
|
12
|
25
|
|
West Belfast
|
4
|
10
|
29
|
|
East Belfast
|
1
|
14
|
7
|
|
South Belfast
|
5
|
12
|
29
|
|
Total
|
49
|
207
|
19
|
Since the last Assembly election the UK
government has passed a law enabling parties to use positive discrimination
to facilitate the nomination of women (read about the Act here).
Although the media has focused on this Act's implications for Labour
and the Conservatives, the Act also applies at the devolved level and
it is in Northern Ireland where it could make the greatest difference.
In May 2003, CAWP has asked the main parties in Northern Ireland if
they intend to take advantage of this new law. The UUP's election director
revealed that the party has urged its constituency associations to pay
heed to gender and age in candidate selection, and the SDLP similarly
encouraged selectors to consider age, gender and geography but neither
have any set policies. The DUP's campaign director reiterated his party's
opposition to positive discrimination but expressed the hope that women
would come forward and be selected as candidates. The Alliance has no
policy for facilitating the nomination of women but nonetheless has
achieved one of the best gender-balances in its slate of candidates,
and we received no reply from the PUP. Alone among the parties Sinn
Féin identified policies in place to encourage women.
Their Women's Forum provides training for women candidates, and the
party provides funds for child care expenses to candidates of either
gender.
Apart
from Alliance and Sinn
Féin, who have raised their women's
representation by 11 and 10% respectively, the remaining parties have
nominated a similar percentage of women to what they achieved in 1998.
This suggests that any increased awareness of this issue raised by the
debate at Westminster has had little or no impact in Northern Ireland.
The much-heralded election of a record three women MPs in 2001, and
the less high profile but nonetheless significant election of a record
number of women councillors that year, were obviously not the start
of a trend. With nominations as they currently stand this election is
unlikely to witness a repeat the breakthroughs of recent elections but
will at best see the number of women MLAs hold steady, at the bottom
of the UK rankings.
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