Local politics is putting off women from voting in June
Twice as many women as men have told researchers that they are unlikely to vote in this year’s general election.
More than one in five of hundreds of women surveyed – compared to about one in 10 men – said they definitely or probably would not take part when the island goes to the polls in June.
The figures have raised fears that just over 6,000 women – compared to about 3,000 men – may already have ruled out having any say over the next States Assembly, which will be elected on Wednesday 18 June.
The results of the survey were published this morning by the new political movement Future Guernsey, which it said suggested that women were disengaging from politics in Guernsey.
‘It’s particularly concerning to see that as many as two in 10 of the women we spoke with claim they won’t be exercising a right which our grandmothers and great-grandmothers fought so hard for,’ said Future Guernsey’s chief executive Lindsey Freeman.
‘We must try to reverse this trend and re-engage women as voters, candidates and advocates for change.
‘We realise people are frustrated, but women silencing their own voices is not an effective route towards progress.’
The States is currently encouraging registrations on the electoral roll before the deadline on 30 April. It said on Friday that about 17,000 people had signed up so far.
At the equivalent time ahead of the 2020 general election, it was estimated that about 20,000 people had enrolled to vote, and that figure had jumped to about 22,000 by the end of the first week of February 2020.
Future Guernsey’s research, which was based on focus groups and telephone surveys, indicated that electoral apathy was particularly strong among middle-aged and older women.
Among respondents aged 45 or over, 28% of women said they were unlikely to vote, compared to 14% of men.
A lower percentage of people in the 16-44 age bracket said they definitely or probably would not vote. But the disparity between women and men was still evident, with 13% of women and 8% of men indicating no or little interest in taking part in the general election.
Future Guernsey launched in November saying it wanted to offer policy-based ideas and move the island away from ‘personality politics’. It is expected to evolve into a political party and field candidates at the general election.
