Welsh assembly become first legislative body in the world to have equal numbers of men and women

Nicholas Watt, political correspondent
Saturday May 3, 2003
The Guardian

A world record was set yesterday when the Welsh assembly became the first legislative body with equal numbers of men and women.

Women's rights groups hailed the breakthrough after 30 women were elected to the 60-strong assembly - an increase of five.

Labour did best, with 19 women and 11 men, allowing the Welsh assembly to overtake the Swedish parliament, where women account for 45.3% of members.

The Liberal Democrats and Plaid Cymru both returned 50% women. The Tories, who have struggled to select women in winnable seats, also did better: two of their 11 assembly members are women. They include Laura Jones, 24, the youngest member of the assembly, who was elected in the multi-seat constituency of Wales South East.

The Fawcett Society last night welcomed the world record. The society's Laura Turquet said: "This is an historic day for women's representation. It is enormously exciting that Wales is now world leader on equal representation.

"This year we are celebrating 75 years since women won the vote on an equal basis to men. What better way to mark the anniversary than with another momentous advance for women?"

Labour had brought in strong affirmative policies for the first assembly elections in 1999, when 42% of Labour's AMs were women.

Rhodri Morgan, the Welsh first secretary, said Wales was setting an example to the world. "I'm absolutely delighted. I frequently use the high number of women in the assembly to promote Welsh democracy around the world."

He took heart that Labour did not need to introduce any affirmative action for this election. "The pendulum has swung. We now have very confident role models who have encouraged more women to come forward."

His remarks were echoed by his wife, Julie, the Labour MP for Cardiff North, a strong supporter of positive discrimination. She said: "It is absolutely amazing. We really have broken the mould."

Ms Turquet said: "We urge the parties in England to take positive steps to replicate this result."

The result showed how a traditional society could be changed, added Mr Morgan. "What is so remarkable is that up until the last decade of the 20th century we had an appalling record. Until 1997, Wales had only ever had four women MPs.

"Our industrial heritage meant business was conducted in smoke-filled rooms of men. One of my earliest political memories was watching Dorothy Rees, Labour MP for Barry, leaving a platform in tears after being howled down by hooray Henries. I can remember it very clearly."

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/elections/story/0,13008,948679,00.html

This is entirely news to me, and it is so wonderful. Well done, women of Wales.

And that must be some Labour Party. All Layton advisers on the board: you see your task, yes? Let's get Jack and co. across to the Gaeltacht to see how it is done, yes?

Oh, I'm so happy. I had no idea this was coming, and I should probably be ashamed of that, but I can't help it -- I'm so happy!!!

Wales isn't part of the Gaeltacht. Welsh is a Celtic language, indeed, but a different strain from Irish and Scottish Gaelic. Welsh is P-Celtic, along with Breton and Cornish; Gaelic is Q-Celtic, and so is Manx. The languages are quite different.

So while you might toast the outcome of the Scottish National Elections with Slainte Mhaith (Slainte var), the appropriate toast in this case is "Iechyd da".

My grandmother is Welsh; I'd be more than happy to join Jack in an expedition!

[ 06 May 2003: Message edited by: vickyinottawa ]

There are two strains of Celtic languages: Gaelic and Brythonic, or Q-Celtic and P-Celtic as I discussed above. But the term "Gaeltacht" refers to a geographic area where the primary language is Gaelic (i.e. Irish or Scottish). Calling Wales part of the Gaeltacht is like calling Italy part of "la francophonie" because Italian is a Romance language.

[ 07 May 2003: Message edited by: vickyinottawa ]

I tried googling the term and came up with almost nothing but Irish sites (why don't the Scots have websites? -- just kidding), where used in the plural the term seems to have a specific administrative meaning, like county, only referring to the precise regions where native speakers persisted even before the revival?

I also found this:

quote:

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The first use of "Gaeltacht" in a geographical sense comes from Scotland around
1700, where it describes an area in which Gaelic is spoken. It appears that such a definition was then imported into Ireland from
Scotland, but not until the end of the 19th Century.

The language revival movement came to associate "Gaeltacht" with a ill-defined region in the west of the country. One of the first
tasks of the Free State government was to define the precise boundaries of areas where Irish was still spoken as a community
language.

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Some Scots, anyway, tend to be a little looser than this, although at least they also tend to know that their language is really Irish.

I thought I also remembered the Lorient (Brittany) Festival referring to the Gaeltacht, although I see that this year's site refers to the eight Celtic nations -- they're adding Galicia and Asturias in Spain -- not a word about the Gaeltacht.

quote:

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The Galatians (from the Greek "Galatae" or "Gauls") were Celts who migrated southward across the Danubian plains through Illyricum and Pannonia to settle in central asia minor (i.e. modern Turkey). Perhaps due to this migration through open country, they were known to fight in tighter formations than their western counterparts, which made them vulnerable in bad going.

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And :

quote:

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Once firmly established, the Galatians commenced a series of marauding expeditions in all directions that made them the scourge of Asia Minor.

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Tory swaps waitressing for AM job

The first woman Tory AM in the Welsh Assembly has revealed she was earning £5 per hour as waitress until she landed her £42,000 per year post.

Laura Jones, 24, became the youngest person elected to in the Cardiff Bay legislature when she was voted in to the South Wales East regional seat in the 1 May polls.

The farmer's daughter admits to being "completely shocked" at her election, after coming third in the race for the Caerphilly seat, making her one of a record 30 female AMs in the 60-seat assembly.

The equal opportunities body, Chwarae Teg, has called on the assembly to do more to promote the economic development of women in all areas of Wales.

Ms Jones has promised her youth and enthusiasm will help her to bring some "fun" into Welsh politics.

Conviction

She said her favourite TV shows are not the heavyweight politics programmes but the soaps EastEnders and Friends.

She had been working at a restaurant at a hotel in Usk, Gwent, after studying politics at Plymouth University.

In addition to waiting tables, the keen sportswoman had also been working as a volunteer for the Red Cross and the Spastic Society.

She was backed by the party despite landing a conviction for drink-driving in December last year when she was banned from driving for 12 months and fined 7£5 after being stopped by police after family Christmas celebrations.

She said: "I was absolutely shocked to get through to the Assembly. It's a dream come true. I've been waitressing just to earn money.

"I was unemployed until I became an AM and wanted to pay my own way.

"I've got youth, enthusiasm and energy on my side - I'll try to bring in a bit of fun.

'Average'

"I expect to stay single for a while as I'm not sure the assembly is the best place to look for a boyfriend.

"And if I get time off, I only have the energy to watch EastEnders or Friends."

She described herself as "an average young Welsh woman who is in a great position to make a difference" following her election.

"Being the daughter of a farmer and an ex-nurse, the state of Welsh farming and the health service are high on my list of priorities."

Her parents mother, Penelope, said: "We are so proud of her. She's worked incredibly hard, canvassing for up to nine hours a day, so she deserves every success.

'Childcare

"She's only 24 and she is an AM already - imagine where she could end up."

Paul Dorey, 54, owner of the Rat Trap hotel where Mr Jones used to wait on tables said: "Laura's been working for us off and on all the way through.

"Our restaurant's loss in politics' gain. She's a wonderful girl and is a great friend."

Ruth Marks, chief executive of the Welsh equality body, Chwarae Teg, has welcomed the "gender balance" of the assembly.

She said: "Key to women playing a greater role in the economy of Wales is ensuring that any hindrance to entering the workforce is minimised.

"So we will be continuing to press the Welsh Assembly Government for more affordable and quality childcare provision and also care for the elderly and dependent relatives the responsibility for which traditionally falls to women."

(She won when the vote for Welsh nationalist Plaid Cymru collapsed in South East Wales. From winning three of the region's 12 seats in 1999, it dropped to one, losing one to Labour and one to the Conservatives. With 20.2% of the vote, by a margin of 718 votes over Plaid Cymru the calculation gave the Conservatives their third seat. Their number 1 was re-elected in the local Monmouth seat, so their numbers 2 & 3 on the Conservative list for the South East got regional seats. Laura Jones was their number 3. Labour won the other 7 local seats, and the Liberal Democrats won the other regional top-up list seat.)

[ 08 May 2003: Message edited by: Wilfred Day ]

There are other Celtic place-names scattered about where Celts haven't lived since (their) pre-history. They travelled well -- mainly west from southern Germany/Austria, but the Galatians are an interesting exception.

[ 08 May 2003: Message edited by: Willowdale Wizard ]

quote:

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i believe it was disraeli who once said "whoo-hoo"

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[ 09 May 2003: Message edited by: TommyPaineatWork ]