International Women’s Day event highlights council gender imbalance in Longford

Longford County Council hosted a “reversal of the existing gender make-up” of the local authority with a meeting of 16 women and two men.

At the meeting RTE camera's recorded the historic gathering where the normal gender imbalance was turned on its head. The two female sitting Longford County Council councillors, Peggy Nolan and Uruemu Adejnmi, were joined by Longford women from across the political, community and business landscape.

Monday's get together embraced the theme for International Women's Day 2023, Embrace Equity, the notion that fairness should be at the centre of all representation.

Cathaoirleach Turlough McGovern described himself as “blessed amongst women” before outlining the six items for consideration by the members, adding: “Today’s meeting highlights the need to have more women’s voices within local government.”

Council Chief Executive Paddy Mahon explained the items on the agenda are typical topics debated by local authority members. Presentations by Directors of Services on The Community Recognition Fund 2023 and a N4 Mullingar to Roosky Bypass Update were discussed. The meeting attendees gave clear, erudite observation on the agenda topics.

The chamber members could easily have been swapped out for serving members without any perceptible damage to democracy.

The event was part of the WoMeN’s (Western Midlands and Northern) Regional Caucus, drawing attention to the imbalance in the composition of Councils and to raise awareness of the role of women in local government.

Attendees included Longford Chamber of Commerce Chair Fiona Fenelon, Longford Older Persons Council Chair Kitty Hughes, Longford PPN Secretariat Francesca Pawelczyk, and an online contribution from New York by journalist Shaunagh Connaire.

Cllr Adejinmi welcomed the members saying: “It's certainly welcome to see such diversity in the chamber today.”

The event was coordinated through the WoMeN’s (Western Midlands and Northern) Regional Caucus: “This is an association of the 13 regional councils in the region. The gender balance of councillors in these 13 counties is 45 women and 245 men. That is 15.5% female representation, lower than the national average of 25.5% across Ireland,” she recounted.

The objective of the event is to raise awareness of the work and role of women in local government and draw attention to the imbalance in the composition of councils. Cllr Adejinmi said it's important to “work together to increase the number of women in politics”.

Longford's poor record of electing female politicians to local office is not an anomaly. However the first woman councillor in Longford, Madame Francoise Edgeworth of Edgeworthstown House who was elected to Granard Rural District Council in 1899, was one of the first female councillors in Ireland.

Cllr Colm Murray told the chamber only seven women were elected to Longford County Council since the first local elections in 1920. Cllr Murray referenced the election of Mary Ellen Brady and Phillo Kelly (both elected in the early 70s) as the first females to occupy office at a local level since the foundation of the State.

The event was closed by Cllr Peggy Nolan, who recently passed Maura Kilbride Harkin as the longest serving female on the Longford local authority with 23 years in the chamber. Cllr Nolan told attendees her motivation in politics was fundamental: “I based my career on a very simple ethic. That was to ensure Longford gets our share of the national pie.”

She urged the women to get involved in local politics: “You have something very special to offer. You are all very involved and grounded in our local community. For that I thank you, I thank you for your input, I thank you for your ability and I thank you for your passion. Longford would be a poorer place without what you bring to the table.”

She imparted one piece of advice to the gathering: “Nobody will put a Number 1 beside your name in a ballot paper just because of your gender. They will do it because they feel you have something to offer. I can say as one of only three elected women in my 23 years on the council I have worked with some amazing, passionate female representatives.

“Maura Kilbride Harkin was an example to me and to any woman who wants to go into political life, then Mae Sexton who represented Longford at a national level and someone we can be very proud of. I have sat with only three women on the council, I would love to sit with more women, not because of a gender quota, but because of their passion and their ability.”

International Women’s Day, first celebrated by the United Nations in 1975 but dating back more than a century, recognises the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women globally. This Wednesday's theme of Embrace Equity was well served at Monday's meeting.