THE Island’s first female politician has been celebrated on the 75th anniversary of her election.
On this day in 1948, Ivy Forster was elected to the Assembly as a Deputy for St Helier.
In a release paying tribute to the lasting legacy of trail-blazing Mrs Forster, the Assembly’s communications team said that the current States were the most diverse in the history of the Chamber, with more female Deputies than male Deputies and the Island’s first female Chief Minister in Deputy Kristina Moore. There are a total of 21 women and 28 men in the Assembly.
Up until the last States’ term of office, only 45 women had been elected, marking a “significant achievement in gender equality”, the release stated.
While Mrs Forster was the first woman to enter the States, she was not the first female candidate.
In 1922, Caroline Trachy stood for election but was disqualified because of her gender. She went on to fight for political reform that enabled female candidates to stand, with the law eventually being changed in 1928.
