Inspiring our future leaders – increasing women’s representation in politics

Young women from across Wales are today (18.3.21) being given the chance to shadow Members of the Senedd and take a look at the inner workings of Welsh political life.

Chwarae Teg, Wales’ leading gender equality charity, runs the #LeadHerShip project for women aged 16-22 in order to inspire a future generation of women in leadership. During the day the women will get first-hand experience of a day in the life of an MS and learn how the Senedd works. They will participate in a Q&A session with women MSs, have media training from Teleri Glyn-Jones from BBC Cymru Wales and participate in a session on community organising run by Fiona Meldrum from Citizens Cymru.

Women are still notably absent from many decision-making roles in Wales. Only recently Chwarae Teg highlighted its concerns about the low number of female candidates in winnable seats for May’s Senedd elections. There is much room for improvement when it comes to MPs too with 35% being women and at a local authority level the figure stands at only 29% for councillors.

#LeadHerShip2021 is sponsored by Suzy Davies MS for South Wales West, who has partnered with Chwarae Teg for the event.

Chisomo Phiri, Policy and Communications Partner at Chwarae Teg said:

“We started #LeadHerShip three years ago and it has been very successful and well received by the young women and MSs alike.

“Improving young women’s engagement with politics is key to increasing future representation. Although the Senedd is fairly well gender balanced, this could change for the worse at May’s elections, and there is a clear under-representation of diverse women. Without concerted action by political parties we have seen the proportion of women elected drop in the past. We cannot afford to be complacent and must ensure future generations are empowered to seek leadership roles across public life.

“Chwarae Teg works to ensure that all women become better represented in decision making roles and #LeadHerShip aims to show young women in Wales that they can get their voices heard and play an important role in shaping the future.”

Suzy Davies, Member of the Senedd for South West Wales, said:

“I’m delighted to be able to sponsor this year’s LeadHerShip and hope it will give the young women taking part a real insight into the work of AMs and how decisions that affect people’s lives here in Wales are made.

“Having politicians from a range of diverse backgrounds improves decision-making and helps make sure our institutions are able to best serve everyone in Wales. I hope that LeadHerShip will encourage these young women to take on political roles and see themselves as change makers and leaders of the future.”