Sanctus — Women now account for nearly half of the House of Deputies following Saturday’s general election, with 216 female deputies elected to the 460-seat chamber, up from 184 at the previous election in 2022. The increase comes as the Democratic Left Party secured a majority, all but certainly returning outgoing Chancellor Dr. Bethany Greer to office with 245 seats.
This brings female representation to 47%, compared with 40% three years ago, an increase of 32 seats and seven (7) percentage points. The gap between male and female deputies has narrowed considerably, from 92 seats following the 2022 election to just 28 in the newly elected House.
The shift comes amid a wider reshaping of the federal parliament, with the DLP strengthening its position, the Sanctarian Conservative Party and New Sanctaria Party maintaining or close to maintaining election-on-election results, and the Green Party and Christian Union Party seeing significant loses.
While women remain a minority in the chamber, the election has brought the House closer to gender parity than ever before. Grassroots campaign Women For Election have welcomed the increase in representation, but cautioned that to see true parity, it doesn’t just boil down to candidate selection, with campaign director Jolene McHugh saying “Parliament needs to reform completely to make a more safe, welcoming, and productive space for female candidates and parliamentarians. We need to talk about more childcare facilities on premises, we need to talk about maternity and parental leave protections, we need to talk about when we schedule votes to allow for picking up kids from school, for example. A lot of great work as been done, but more needs to happen”.
During the election campaign, the DLP promised more support for mothers in general in the workforce, it remains to be seen whether they’ll look inwards at the House of Deputies and Parliament itself as a first stop.
SOULLA WILDE, Political Correspondent
