Migrant Women’s Views & Experiences of Policy Making & Political Participation

In May 2025 the Irish pilot of INSPIRE held its first research event in Dublin.  24 women from different national, cultural and linguistic backgrounds participated in the event, which was co-hosted with the Intercultural Women’s Network (IWN), a network of women from the Kildare-Dublin region.

The goal of the event was to explore the views and experiences of women from migrant backgrounds about their participation in politics and policymaking in Ireland.  The event also explored their knowledge of decision-making processes in Ireland and their understanding of how they can influence these processes in their communities, at local level and at national level.   To support expression and communication across different languages, the women used drawing as a creative method to express their views and experiences.

These experiences of inclusion were wide ranging, from participation in community groups, to leading civil society organisations focused on women’s issues, to running in local elections.  Key themes that emerged focused on the challenges facing participants including: accessing information on how to get involved in policymaking; challenges in accessing public services; limitations in participating due to personal life circumstances and language barriers;  as well as challenges of external environments to some participants’ confidence in getting involved. Discussions gave a very valuable insight into the potential of INSPIRE’s research to develop the Democratic Capabilities Framework from an intersectional inclusion perspective in WP1.

In terms of co-creation of new spaces for participation, the event proved to be a powerful mechanism for enabling women to share experiences and support each other in contributing to local and national policymaking. Support for each other and collective action for their respective communities were key themes shared. While not a focus of the workshop, this is key learning that will be brought forward to the next co-creation stage with policymakers in Autumn 2025.

Following the event, in June 2025, a film based on the output of the workshop was presented at a public art exhibition that was part of the annual Swift and Vanessa Festival in Kildare. The exhibition enabled engagement with members of the public on the themes of inclusion and exclusion emerging from the research event.