04/08/2026
Just when the true state of the fragility of gender equality globally and nearer home was being laid bare we are confronted with an even starker picture. Globally (UN report) 82% of female politicians surveyed have experienced psychological violence including targeted sexual abuse with 20-25% of female parliamentarians experiencing sexual violence or direct sexual assault. At home, the rights of Irish female elected politicians are under attack with an attempt to undermine their authority with online/verbal harassment and sexual harassment. In early July 2026 a report by "Women for Election" not profit group reported 96% of female MPs had experienced sexual harassment (of the 34% who chose to complete a survey) and now 80 local government councillors have been maliciously targeted with intimidating telephone calls (report by AILG). With female representation at parliament at 25% and at local government 27%, female representation is already in a vulnerable state. In the last election a high profile female candidate was subject to AI deepfakes. The establishment is well on notice of this and there is a failure to quickly implement new legislation/ harsher penalties for anybody in public office who is subject to any kind of harassment. It is clear that attempts are being made to impede women in their work and therefore the government cannot function fairly?
The need for equal representation in public representation is well established by UN reports which show where more women are in elected positions this in turn will lead to more fairness and more diversity in policy making. It has a direct bearing on where the funding goes e.g. prevention measures for gender based violence arguably (which is too low) we looked at in a recent post?
Is there a pattern between these attempts of "silencing"/deterring women from public representation and the recent "outing" in various media by women of "AI's " exclusion of women over age 45 from job interviews? It is worth more research. The socioeconomic, mental health and equality for women depends on it. Given that AI is a mostly male dominated field (75%), a need for more female reps there too....
