THE North's political parties should actively recruit and select women as candidates for the May election, according to a study published today based on interviews with 1,300 women and 400 men. Two thirds of the women and more than half of the men wanted more female political representatives at local, regional and national levels.
The study was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council and carried out by Dr Rick Wilford and Dr Bob Miller of Queen's University, Belfast and Dr Freda Donoghue of the National College of Industrial Relations in Dublin.
The study found that women were slightly less likely to join political parties than men, but a high educational attainment and occupational status - and a supportive partner - were stronger influencing factors in political involvement than gender.
Dr Wilford said it was incumbent on the political parties to recruit female candidates on the basis of parity with men.