How do you increase your electoral chances if you have a migration background? Run as a migrant woman!

The candidacy of people of a migrant background during the 2024 local elections in Ireland presented a unique case study of full gender parity. What is the recipe for success of migrant women?

Pic: www.freepik.com

If you are an election candidate of a migrant background your chances for a successful campaign, drop by 62%. This is the reality of democracy stained by structural barriers and conscious and unconscious racism.

In September I published a research report on the experiences of local election candidates of a migrant background in Ireland. My research found that candidates in that cohort have diminished access to resources essential for effective electoral participation such as funding, knowledge, and social networks. Gender parity was however the one area where they exceeded. 49% of candidates of a migrant background were women and 55% of elected local councillors in that group are women. In comparison only 22% of all candidates in the June local elections in Ireland were women. Women also represent only 26% of the elected 949 local councillors.

Women of a migrant background are breaking the glass ceiling for both gender and ethnic diversity.

A lot of people find those statistics surprising, and the rest of the people are migrant women. I am a migrant woman working in the migration sector, I count myself to be fortunate to got to be in the consistent presence of migrant women’s quality leadership. Migrant women outnumber migrant men as community activists. In my humble and perhaps biased opinion, they also carry a brighter charisma. Just listen to Cllr Yemi Adenuga's storytelling abilities to see why she sparks enthusiasm in so many people. My previously published love letter to migrant women lists some qualities distinguishing migrant women's leadership above others. Their leadership is rooted in a deep inner sense of dignity. It is characterised by compassion and is community-powered. It seems that migration experiences, both the good and the bad ones, enhance women’s appetite for leadership.

Migrant women’s transition to electoral politics differs from migrant men however due to the gendered aspects of various forms of political participation.

The community development sector is mostly occupied by women due to the caring nature of such work. Running for election is considered a more masculine type of leadership. Men tend to self-appoint as candidates for political leadership. Females require more external encouragement to stand for the election because for women community mandate is important. In my research, I found that 50% of female candidates of a migrant background said they decided to run upon being encouraged by their community, compared to 21% of male candidates. Furthermore, 59% of female candidates of a migrant background said their decision to enter the electoral bid was motivated by their desire to represent migrant voices. The desire to carry their community’s voices in their campaign was a factor for a smaller percentage (50%) of male candidates.

Reluctance to self-appoint as a potential political leader inadvertently works to women’s advantage.

Entering the electoral campaign with greater community support means more social resources. Wide and deep social networks translate into campaign team members and thus a bigger campaign reach. A bigger and better campaign means more votes. Supportive communities are also a source of emotional support, thus resilience. It’s a quality essential to withhold the demands of an election campaign especially marked by political violence.  

This is not to say that men do not have supportive community networks. They do. Women of a migrant background are however better at capitalising on their community engagement to build the foundation for their electoral campaigns. Prior community leadership is a good opportunity for campaigning skills development, credential validation, and building visibility. It is also a good testing ground for measuring potential voters’ support.

Political parties also seek to appoint candidates with strong community standing and experience implementing community-based initiatives. Ireland is a country with a relevant popularity of independent candidates, especially among candidates from migrant communities. However, given that all of the newly elected local councillors of a migrant background are party nominees the institutional support of a political party is a resource that cannot be ignored. Awareness of the multiple levels of disadvantage that candidates of a migrant background experience may be one of the reasons why most female candidates seek a party nomination. 73% of female candidates from that group ran as a party candidate, compared to 48% of male counterparts.

Female candidates of a migrant background also invested more in preparation for their campaigns.

They ran longer campaigns. Whereas 50% of male candidates entered the campaign less than 3 months before the election day, a strategy destined for failure. 72% of women attended campaigning training compared to 36% of men. The women indeed have better access to capacity-building training due to female-centered resource orgnisations such as See Her Elected or Women for Elections. However, political parties also offer capacity-building support. Low party membership among male candidates sets them further away from accessing available institutional resources.

Being a female candidate of a migrant background isn’t all about benefits and advantages. Despite receiving more support from their communities and from parties to enter the races for political leadership they pay a higher cost of their candidacy. 77% of female candidates of a migrant background reported being victimised by political violence such as racism and harassment, compared to 64% of male candidates. Recent research on political violence in Ireland found that politicians who engage on topics of women’s rights or migration are more likely to be targeted by harassment and threats as those subjects are considered politically ‘controversial’.

Female politicians of a migrant background are a walking embodiment of those political ‘controversies’. As such their candidacy is an act of resistance in itself.

What transpires is that even though women candidates experience greater barriers they also enjoy greater electoral success. It is not gender however that defines their campaigning victory but their wit and approach to leadership. Community-powered leadership and optimisation of resources are migrant women’s recipe for success.  

The focus of the research report on the experiences of election candidates of a migrant background was to discuss areas where policy intervention was needed and possible to support equal access to electoral processes. The question of access to electoral politics for ethnic minority and migrant communities goes beyond structural barriers. Questions such as the role migrant identity or time plays in election strategy building are not easy to address through policy-making, therefore they were mostly omitted from this report. They are, however, important to discuss further. As such I'll be exploring additional aspects of being an election candidate of a migrant background on the Migrant Vote podcast and newsletter.