Addressing Intersectional Inequalities in Local Governance: Creative Approaches to Coproducing Participatory Assemblages with Migrant Women in Kildare, Ireland

Elected and non-elected representation and participation in central, regional and local government in Ireland is impeded by a lack of ethnic and gender diversity (Immigrant Council of Ireland, 2020; Galvin et al., 2022) and analyses of this lack of diversity fail to adequately acknowledge the wider significance of intersectional exclusion in local decision-making (Begum and Sobolewska, 2024). Drawing on assemblage and intersectional thinking, this paper analyses the work of a pilot research project which aims to enable engagement between a group of women from diverse migrant backgrounds, their wider community, and local government in County Kildare. Part of the Horizon Europe programme INSPIRE (Intersectional Spaces of Participation: Inclusive, Resilient, Embedded) (2024-2027), the Irish pilot seeks to develop and use a set of creative methods (Mandalaki et al., 2022) to explore the group’s experiences of inclusion and exclusion, self-advocacy (Piper, 2013) and to coproduce and embed a participatory space for migrant women in Kildare local government. The paper seeks to identify several of the factors and conditions that contribute to intersectionally inclusive, resilient and embedded local participation with the goal of building and testing a participatory space for women from migrant backgrounds. References Bastia, T., Datta, K., Hujo, K., Piper, N., and Walsham, M. (2022) ‘Reflections on intersectionality: a journey through the worlds of migration research, policy and advocacy’, Gender, Place & Culture, 30(3), 460–483. https://doi.org/10.1080/0966369X.2022.2126826 Begum, N. and Sobolewska, M. (2024) ‘Ticking Two Boxes, Fighting Two Battles: Intersectional Experiences of Ethnic Minority Women Councillors in UK Local Government’, Politics & Gender, 1–26. doi:10.1017/S1743923X24000047. Galvin, M., Masheti, N., O’Halloran, C., Linehan, D. and Santi, H. (2022) Political participation of migrants in Ireland: from integration to participation. A case-study of Cork City. Cork: University College Cork. 10.13140/RG.2.2.10494.19521. Government of Ireland (2023) Ireland’s Fourth Open Government Partnership National Action Plan 2023 – 2025. Dublin: Government of Ireland. Immigrant Council of Ireland (2020) The Experience of Migrant Candidates in the 2019 Local Election. Dublin: Immigrant Council of Ireland. Mandalaki, E., van Amsterdam, N., Prasad, A. and Fotaki, M. (2022) 'Editorial: Caring about the unequal effects of the pandemic: What feminist theory, art, and activism can teach us', Gender, Work and Organisation, 29:1224–1235. DOI: 10.1111/gwao.12867. Piper, N. (2013) ‘Organizations and conventions: rights of migrants’ in I. Ness, S. Maty Bâ, M. Borgolte, D. Gabaccia, D. Hoerder, A. Julca, C. Menjivar, M. Schrover and G. Woolf (eds.) The Encyclopedia of Global Human Migration’. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781444351071.wbeghm401