National Women's Council of Ireland calls for gender quotas in local elections

Lorraine Courtney: 'We need more female leaders like Ardern to make the world a kinder, better place'

At 38, Ardern is the world's youngest female head of state. No doubt her age and gender have informed her progressive ideals and style of leadership. And looking at the recent macho posturing from the likes of Macron and Trump at the D Day commemorations last week, one thing's clear. The world desperately needs more young women in positions of power.

Having more women in charge is the only way to truly change patriarchal culture, from the inside out.

Here, we're still struggling to gender balance our politics, both female leader-wise and by how much male politicians outnumber women. Thirty-five women were elected as members of the 32nd Dáil, an all-time high. But women still account for just 22pc of TDs and 30pc of senators.

Political science research has found over and over again that women legislators are more likely to introduce legislation that specifically benefits women. But according to research by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) on women in politics, there's established and growing evidence women's leadership in political decision-making improves it for everyone.

But the IPU research found women in politics remain concentrated in committees that deal with social issues, education, health and family affairs. While these committees are important, women are often absent from debates on finance and foreign affairs. This means we have a lesser say in financial priorities and shaping national agendas.

Sadly, because women have never had a truly representative Dáil, we don't actually know what our country would look like if it was run by women. Although it's hard to imagine it could be worse than it is right now. If we'd had equal numbers of women and men in public office since day dot, perhaps childcare would be affordable and men wouldn't be paid more than women for doing the same job.

If there were more women decision makers, would we still have no hope of ever solving our homelessness crisis? If the Dáil actually reflected our country in terms of gender, maybe we could better tackle problems in our health service and real equality between men and women would feel less like a vanishing point on an ever-moving horizon.

Having women in Government is more than just optics.

We bring new ideas to the table. We create new ways of thinking and of working. We need to make that change now. A new model that tries something out of the box and allows politicians - women or men - to pursue person-centred approaches to policy issues is worth considering.

A role model like Jacinda Ardern is something that Irish - and global - politics badly needs.

But according to research by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) on women in politics, there's established and growing evidence women's leadership in political decision-making improves it for everyone.