'More women politicians' wanted

'More women politicians' wanted

Women 'make up less than one-fifth of Assembly candidates'

People in Northern Ireland want to see more female politicians, a survey has suggested.

Researchers from Queen's University Belfast and the University of Ulster carried out the Life and Times survey.

Two-thirds of women (66%) and 57% of men said they wanted to see more women in the Northern Ireland Assembly and in Westminster.

Just under one-fifth (19%) of those surveyed thought that political parties should be required to have a quota of female candidates, while 55% thought that parties should be encouraged to field more women as candidates.

Director of Queen's University's Centre for the Advancement of Women in Politics Dr Yvonne Galligan said it was clear that the public wanted to see more women in politics.

"As things stand in the run-up to the Assembly elections at the end of May, there are only 25 women running in this election from the five main parties, excluding the Women's Coalition, yet there are 142 men from these parties looking for an Assembly seat.

"In other words, women are less than one-fifth of the candidates," she said.

Lecturer in Social Administration and Policy at the University of Ulster Dr Ann Marie Gray said people were now "much more supportive of women in politics than a decade ago".