Island 'behind the times' over female deputies
GUERNSEY has an 'embarrassingly low' number of women in politics, a female poll-topper has said.
Heidi Soulsby, pictured, said women made up less than 11% of the States at a time when Commonwealth jurisdictions were aiming to achieve a minimum of 30%.
Her comment has followed her trip to the Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference, where she discovered the positive efforts made by other nations to get more women into politics – including appointing a 'Minister for Women'.
'To date, approximately 40 countries have introduced gender quota in elections to national parliaments,' she said.
'There is a Commonwealth goal to increase women's parliamentary representation by at least 30%. Guernsey is embarrassingly low at less than 11%.'
According to the UN, she said, a threshold of at least 30% of female legislators is required to ensure that public policy reflects the needs of women.
