Dismay as gender-equal Senedd plan dropped
Chris Haines – ICNN Senedd reporter
Senedd members voted to scrap plans for gender quotas in Welsh Parliament elections despite concerns about “false hope” and taxpayers’ money being wasted.
Labour, Plaid Cymru, Liberal Democrat and Conservative politicians all raised concerns about the Welsh Government’s abandoned plans to ensure half of candidates are women.
Joyce Watson was deeply disappointed, warning that the gender quota bill was introduced while it was questionable whether the Senedd had the necessary powers.
The Labour backbencher said: “I will ask the government in future – any government in future – not to do what I believe we’ve done and that is: raise false hope.”
Describing the u-turn as shameful, Plaid Cymru’s Sioned Williams criticised Wales’ first female first minister for “binning the very bill that would ensure women have an equal voice”.
.Jane Dodds, the Lib Dems’ leader in Wales, was similarly bitterly disappointed, saying: “We spent time, we spent money, and it’s just been thrown down the drain.”
‘Futile’
Darren Millar, the Conservatives’ shadow constitution minister, told the Senedd his party has never had a problem with the aim of improving diversity.
“We have had a beef as to the means to achieve that,” he said, arguing the bill was outside the Senedd’s powers and criticising the focus on one element of diversity.
Mr Millar pointed to a YouGov poll that showed people in Wales opposed gender quotas as he raised concerns about spending on the “futile” legislation.
He said: “It is very, very disappointing that millions of pounds – and it is millions of pounds – and lots of time, lots of energy has been spent.”
Mr Millar, who represents Clwyd West, added: “I’m pleased to see the back of this legislation. I hope it never returns because we don’t have the competence to deliver it.”
‘Historic’
Heledd Fychan warned Wales’ democracy will suffer as she emphasised Plaid Cymru’s disappointment at the Welsh Government for “turning its back” on the bill.
She said the first gender-balanced Senedd in 2003 received international attention, stressing that the same parity has not been achieved in the 21 years since.
Ms Fychan told the debating chamber or Siambr: “For the first time in our history, a first minister who is a woman – an important milestone in this Senedd.
“But how disappointing to see that one of the first actions of the government led by the new first minister is to withdraw a bill that would help other women to achieve that same role.”
Accusing ministers of lacking ambition, she said: “This isn’t good enough. This bill would have made a positive difference … it would have been a historic step.”
‘Blood on the floor’
Labour’s Julie Morgan said it was a shame to see reforms shelved.
“When the Senedd started, in the Labour Party, we had a twinning exercise,” said the Cardiff North MS. “There was blood on the floor but it was very successful and we have consistently since then … had more women than men in our group.”
Sian Gwenllian, who chairs the cross-party group on women, warned that creating a Senedd without equality at its heart in legislation is a serious error.
“It is an unacceptable sign that gender equality, somehow, doesn’t matter,” she said.
Former Plaid Cymru leader Adam Price described the moment as profoundly depressing, claiming the UK and Welsh Labour are at loggerheads.
He suggested the UK party would not support an order, under section 19 of the 2006 Government of Wales Act, to bring the bill within the Senedd’s scope.
‘What changed?’
Jane Hutt, the member in charge of the bill, which was delayed four years before being scrapped, urged political parties to take voluntary steps to ensure equal representation.
Pressed by Senedd members asking “what changed?”, she said ministers reflected over the summer on the difficulties of passing the bill before the next election in 2026.
The social justice secretary told the Siambr that the Elections and Elected Bodies (Wales) Act, which was passed this year, will improve diversity in Welsh politics.
Reiterating calls for positive action, Ms Hutt, who was first elected in 1999, said she did not think she would be a Senedd member today had it not been for Labour’s twinning process.
Senedd members voted 40-12 to withdraw the bill.
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Replace ‘dismay’ with ‘commonsense.’ The right person for the job not the right gender.
Agreed, regardless of Gender, Language or Race.
Rightly so. People should be elected and selected solely on ability not on gender, race disability or sexual orientation or for any other reason
Does this also apply to buying houses in West Wales?
A rare bright moment in the Senedd, though I am sorry to see that so many members seem not to understand the concept of “sunk costs”: If you have already wasted a lot of money on something, it is not an argument for wasting still more.
Apart from the thorny question of sex versus gender, which I don’t want to get into, it is misleading to claim that this measure would have secured equality for women. It would have ensured that no more than 50% of members could be male. In theory 100% could have been female. It should also be noted that any attempt to legislate for gender balance -as a certain outcome – depends on the noxious closed list system.
Oh thank goodness. Can we build a grown up country now rather than seeing the whole world as a class struggle like 1st year Uni students?
How on earth does this ensure women have an equal voice if it includes men who ‘identify’ as Women? Sheer madness!
Dismay??
The policy was half baked, image a equal race policy or an equal language policy!
You did not include disabled and other groups seeking equality and inclusion. There again most of our present Senedd membership seem to have cognitive defects, mostly unacknowledged
The overwhelming majority of people in Wales will be under the impression that this Bill was about supporting women’s rights via guaranteed representation in the Senedd. It was nothing of the kind. The Bill was deliberately worded to allow and man to simply claim he was a women in order to formally stand as a female candidate. Yes, you read that right. It would have completely erased and safeguarding or legal status of women & girls in Wales. We can thank WRN Wales for uncovering this seedy scheme and breaking the story to the media, late last year. WRN Wales was able… Read more »
Excellent news. We want the best people to be politicians, not tokens to fulfil a gnder quota.
That’s an old argument with an old rebuttal that I won’t repeat because it’s so obvious.
I wasn’t sold on the idea. If something prevents women engaging in politics those issues should be addressed this was just a poor sticking plaster.
What would have happened in the future if the majority of people on the party lists were women? There could have been a scenario where women were forced to not be selected to make way for men under an equal gender 50% system. There are countries whose Parliaments have more women than men e.g. Rwanda and Cuba (source google). It could ironically discriminate against the gender it was designed to discriminate for.