Adrian Kavanagh, 8th March 2011
For the day that’s in it – this post ranks constituencies based on the share of the vote won by female candidates in the 2011 General Election. Even though there was no noticeable urban-rural divide in terms of candidacy levels (probably reflecting the higher number of mainly male independent candidates in the Dublin region in this election) a noticeable difference emerges between Dublin/urban Ireland and the rest of Ireland/rural areas in terms of vote share.
| Votes for female candidates | No of female candidates | % | |||
| Dublin Central | 4 | 15,683 | 44.7% | 4 | 25.0% |
| Dun Laoghaire | 4 | 19,926 | 34.9% | 3 | 21.4% |
| Dublin Mid West | 4 | 14,776 | 34.2% | 2 | 14.3% |
| Cavan-Monaghan | 5 | 21,783 | 30.2% | 5 | 35.7% |
| Dublin North West | 3 | 9,359 | 28.1% | 1 | 8.3% |
| Carlow-Kilkenny | 5 | 18,647 | 25.0% | 4 | 21.1% |
| Meath West | 3 | 9,809 | 24.2% | 3 | 23.1% |
| Dublin South Central | 5 | 12,178 | 24.0% | 2 | 11.1% |
| Longford-Westmeath | 4 | 13,444 | 23.1% | 4 | 26.7% |
| Mayo | 5 | 17,214 | 23.0% | 5 | 33.3% |
| Meath East | 3 | 9,845 | 22.8% | 2 | 22.2% |
| Kildare North | 4 | 11,688 | 22.6% | 2 | 16.7% |
| Dublin West | 4 | 9,627 | 22.5% | 1 | 10.0% |
| Galway West | 5 | 13,447 | 21.9% | 3 | 17.6% |
| Dublin South East | 4 | 7,248 | 20.6% | 2 | 12.5% |
| Cork North West | 3 | 9,436 | 20.4% | 2 | 22.2% |
| Tipperary North | 3 | 8,300 | 17.0% | 3 | 37.5% |
| Limerick City | 4 | 6,843 | 15.7% | 2 | 15.4% |
| Dublin North | 4 | 7,513 | 15.1% | 1 | 11.1% |
| Cork North Central | 4 | 7,676 | 14.6% | 1 | 6.7% |
| Dublin South | 5 | 10,313 | 14.1% | 5 | 31.3% |
| Cork South Central | 5 | 9,038 | 14.0% | 2 | 11.8% |
| Sligo-North Leitrim | 3 | 5,672 | 12.7% | 2 | 15.4% |
| Donegal South West | 3 | 5,211 | 12.0% | 2 | 22.2% |
| Kerry South | 3 | 5,327 | 11.9% | 2 | 20.0% |
| Cork East | 4 | 6,802 | 11.8% | 2 | 15.4% |
| Dublin North East | 3 | 4,794 | 11.3% | 1 | 9.1% |
| Tipperary South | 3 | 4,525 | 10.8% | 1 | 12.5% |
| Waterford | 4 | 5,554 | 10.2% | 1 | 6.7% |
| Wicklow | 5 | 5,742 | 8.1% | 2 | 8.3% |
| Laois-Offaly | 5 | 5,830 | 7.8% | 1 | 4.8% |
| Dublin South West | 4 | 3,678 | 7.7% | 1 | 10.0% |
| Galway East | 4 | 4,178 | 7.0% | 2 | 15.4% |
| Dublin North Central | 3 | 2,641 | 6.7% | 2 | 22.2% |
| Louth | 5 | 4,546 | 6.5% | 1 | 6.3% |
| Kerry North-W. Limerick | 3 | 2,161 | 4.7% | 2 | 18.2% |
| Donegal North East | 3 | 1,150 | 3.0% | 1 | 9.1% |
| Clare | 4 | 1,099 | 1.9% | 3 | 18.8% |
| Wexford | 5 | 175 | 0.2% | 1 | 7.1% |
| Cork South West | 3 | 0 | 0.0% | 0 | 0.0% |
| Kildare South | 3 | 0 | 0.0% | 0 | 0.0% |
| Limerick | 3 | 0 | 0.0% | 0 | 0.0% |
| Roscommon-South Leitrim | 3 | 0 | 0.0% | 0 | 0.0% |
| STATE | 332,878 | 14.8% | 86 | 15.2% | |
| 2007 FIGURES | 317,541 | 15.2% | 82 | 17.5% | |
| DUBLIN | 117,736 | 21.4% | 25 | 16.1% | |
| LEINSTER | 79,726 | 13.3% | 20 | 13.2% | |
| MUNSTER | 66,761 | 10.3% | 21 | 13.3% | |
| CONNACHT-ULSTER | 68,655 | 15.5% | 20 | 19.6% | |
| DUBLIN INNER CITY | 35,109 | 29.0% | 8 | 16.0% | |
| URBAN | 151,025 | 18.3% | 33 | 14.5% | |
| RURAL | 181,853 | 12.8% | 53 | 15.7% | |
While – unusually, when compared with previous trends – there was a higher percentage of female candidates in rural and especially Connacht-Ulster constituencies in 2011 relative to levels in urban/Dublin constituencies, female candidates were winning a higher number of votes on average in the more urban constiuencies.
In Dublin constituencies, female candidates won an average number of 4,709 first preference votes, as against lower averages in the other regions – with female candidates winning 3,986 votes, on average, in Leinster, 3,433 votes, on average, in Connacht-Ulster and 3,179 votes, on average, in Munster.
Irish Elections: Geography, Facts and Analyses 