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First Lady Hilary Clinton at a Vital Voices, Women in Democracy Conference, Belfast, 2 September 1998 |
The
signatories to the Good Friday Agreement have pledged to address the obstacles
that have historically limited women's access to political participation
and advancement in public life.
There
are two specific references to women in the Agreement. The first is in
the section Rights, Safeguards and Equality of Opportunity where the parties
"affirm their commitment to the mutual respect, the civil rights
and the religious liberties of everyone in the community" and in
particular to "the right of women to full and equal political participation".
Women are mentioned again in the section on Economic, Social and Cultural
Issues where the parties pledge themselves to promote "the advancement
of women in public life".
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is, however, evidence to suggest that there is a long way to go before there
is parity of esteem for women in political and public life. Figures produced
by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment for its report Women
in Northern Ireland: July 2000 and updated to include the 2001 election
results by figures produced by the Centre for the Advancement of Women in
Politics, put the position of women in politics and public life into perspective.
Their findings show: |
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Of
the 108 members elected to the new Northern Ireland Assembly on 25
June 1998, 14 (13%) are women. (When John Hume resigned his seat in
December 2000 he was replaced by a woman taking the total of women
MLAs to 15) On 29 November 1999, ten new Northern Ireland Departments
came into being, each with a minister, a Chair and Deputy Chair post.
Two out of the ten new ministers are women while three of the 20 Chair/Deputy
Chair posts are women. |
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Of
the ten permanent secretaries heading Government Departments, one
is a woman. |
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19%
of Local Councillors in Northern Ireland are women. |
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Of
the 26 District Councils in Northern Ireland, five have a woman as
Mayor/Chair and a further four have women as Deputy Mayor/Deputy Chair. |
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Northern
Ireland has three women MPs but no MEPs. |
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31%
of public appointments in Northern Ireland are held by women. |
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On
the 143 publicly appointed bodies in Northern Ireland, women hold
41 Chair and nine Deputy Chair posts. |
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