Fewer than a quarter of all candidates are women

POLITICAL leaders have been urged to take “determined action” to get more women into politics, after new research revealed they account for fewer than a quarter of the candidates in next month’s local elections.

The SNP is not even prepared to “risk” running women candidates in key target seats, such as Glasgow, according to the research by Edinburgh University.

There are 591 women standing on 3 May out of a total of 2,497. This is 23.6 per cent of all candidates standing, slightly up on 22.5 per cent in 2007, but down from 27.7 per cent in 2003.

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The Greens have the highest proportion of women – more than 40 per cent – although they are standing only 86 candidates across Scotland.

Research co-author Dr Fiona Mackay said: “If Scotland is to make further headway, parties need to demonstrate that they are serious about changing the face of Scottish politics and take determined action.

“The May 3 elections … should serve as a wake-up call that something has to change, and soon.”

Inverclyde, an all-male council, has only one woman standing – Labour’s Vaughan Jones – out of 38 total candidates (2.6 per cent).

The SNP, with 149, has the most women, although this is just 24.3 per cent of its candidates, the smallest proportion of all the main parties.

And the research states: “In Glasgow City, two out of three SNP slates are male-only. This suggests that they aren’t prepared to ‘risk’ women in target wards.”