'Jersey is more than ready for female leadership'

Campaigners have welcomed a record number of women being elected to Jersey's States Assembly, but said there was still more work to be done.

Last Sunday 22 female politicians were voted in, beating the previous record by one. They included four senators, four constables, and 14 deputies.

Inna Gardiner has become the first female constable of St Helier, and Helen Miles topped the island-wide senatorial polls with nearly 16,000 votes.

Kate Wright, who used to chair Women for Politics, wants more women to feel encouraged to put themselves forward for future elections.

Wright, who also chairs the government's violence against women and girls taskforce, felt "hopeful" about the number of female politicians elected in the 2026 general election.

"What I'm seeing in this is that voters in Jersey are more than ready for female leadership, which I think is incredibly hopeful.

"I think the way women have performed in this election may be more significant for the future of politics and leadership in Jersey than perhaps we may realise."

However, Wright highlighted there were fewer female candidates in the running this year: "The issue we now can focus on is how we can get more women standing in the future because clearly voters in Jersey are very comfortable and very keen on female leadership.

"The work starts now, we need to look at what are the barriers to women putting themselves forward.

"It's about a focus on family, it's a focus about reducing the horrible online abuse that we see and there has been some hateful misogyny actually directed towards female candidates. We have to look at that as a community."

Of the 92 candidates that stood for election, there were 29 women and 63 men. After the results, 45% of the new States members are women.

Debbie Taylor, President of Soroptomists International Jersey, said: "The fact that we have half of our deputies are women and four senators are women, I think the balance is much better in the Assembly, and hopefully that will mean that we'll have more diverse opinions."

"I think female leadership is different because it gives a completely different perspective to what men have."

"I have to congratulate everybody who stood [for election] because it's not an easy thing to do, but particularly congratulations to all the women who were successful, and we look forward to seeing some great changes in this next Assembly over the next four years."

Jersey-born netball gold medallist Serena Guthrie has become a senator after finishing fifth in the island-wide vote.

She campaigned on issues including the cost of living, preventative healthcare and childcare provision.

"It's so important that we have representation. We need more mums in States Assembly, we need more women, we need more men from different walks of life."

Guthrie says she wants to be a role model for her children: "I love them and they're part of the reason that I'm doing this, because it's important for them to see their mother going out and achieving things, and I'll never stop doing that for them."

Inna Gardiner, the first female constable of the island's most populated parish, also wants to inspire the next generation: "I'm thinking about my 10-year-old daughter looking at me, saying 'Mummy, you will be the first female Connétable in St Helier'.

"It's what we are showing for our younger generation, what we are showing for the community. And it's a different type of leadership and let's try to work together."

Gardiner has taken over from Simon Crowcroft, who served as constable of St Helier for seven consecutive political terms, spanning 25 years since 2001.

Wright praised all the female candidates: "It's been incredible to see how they have supported each other despite their political differences throughout this campaign."

Follow BBC Jersey on X and Facebook. Send your story ideas to channel.islands@bbc.co.uk.