Today will be a novel day for Donegal County Council as the gender balance is reversed for International Women’s Day.
The Lifford council chamber will host 33 women, and four men, to discuss the matters of the day.
On any other day, women councillors make up just 10.8% of elected members of Donegal County Council. They are Marie Therese Gallagher (Sinn Féin) in Glenties, Niamh Kennedy (Independent) in Donegal, Rena Donaghy (Fianna Fáil) in South Inishowen and Noreen McGarvey (Fianna Fáil) for Glenties.
Today’s event is organised by the WoMeN’s (Western Midlands and Northern) Regional Caucus to give a voice to women from across Donegal communities and minority groups, and also highlight the under-representation of women in politics.
There have only ever been 11 women elected to Donegal County Council since the foundation of the State. The first woman was Susan McGonagle in 1979.
The See Her Elected programme is setting out to achieve more gender balance by focusing on raising awareness of the importance of women getting more involved in politics and possibly running in the 2024 local elections.
