P-06-1245 Diverse and equal representation in the Senedd

This petition was submitted by Women's Equality Network Wales, having collected a total of 199 signatures.

Text of Petition:

The vision of the Diverse5050 Campaign is to see more Black, Asian, and ethnic minority women, LGBTQ+ women, disabled women, and women with other protected characteristics in the leadership structure in Wales – a Senedd that is gender balanced and reflective of the whole Welsh population.

The agreement between Plaid Cymru and Welsh Labour supports integrated gender quotas, but more needs to be done.

We are calling for legally binding integrated diversity and gender quotas.

Additional Information:

While the Senedd celebrated having gender parity in 2003, female representation has since dropped to 43%. Diversity leads to better decision making and lack of diverse representation has had a negative impact, as experienced by disabled people during the COVID-19 pandemic. 100 countries around the world have gender quotas, and around 40 countries use them for additional characteristics. International evidence shows that quotas have been the single most effective tool for ‘fast tracking’ women’s representation in public and political life.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-56225381

Krook, M. L. & Zetterberg, P. (2014). Electoral quotas and political representation: comparative perspectives, International Political Science Review Vol 35(1), 3-11.

https://gov.wales/locked-out-liberating-disabled-peoples-lives-and-rights-wales-beyond-covid-19-html.

Senedd Constituency and Region

· Cardiff Central

· South Wales Central