Laura Dowling

And I'm a part of that governmental team.

So no disrespect, but it's wrong.

At the start of COVID, you saw all the men in suits making announcements.

Yeah.

there was no female representation at that.

And it doesn't mean that they're not at the table.

It means that they're just not front, front and center.

And that's a, that's a fundamental flaw.

And, you know, I got challenged on this when I spoke to some folks in the UN, but from research with women for election, like it's coming back that women don't vote for women either.

So we need to change that conversation.

And, you know, why do you think we don't have the confidence in them?

Yeah, perhaps confidence, perhaps comfort.

I'm seeing less and less when I knock at doors that, you know, it's like, well, let me get my husband or my husband decides the decisions.

And because when you talk to people and you're like, oh, you know, why did you get involved in politics?

Were you interested?

Oh, well, my grandmother was or my mother was and she wasn't front and centre, but she was a force around the kitchen table discussing these things.

And

And yet we just haven't broken that barrier to getting more women elected.

To your point around, perhaps it's around the rise of social media abuse.

But if we don't have people in, then we will never change that.