Senior Plaid Cymru politicians, including Deputy Leader Jill Evans MEP, will today (Wednesday 3 August 2005) urge women to play their full role in politics, and in Plaid Cymru in particular. The party will be highlighting this issue at the National Eisteddfod taking place near Bangor.

Jill Evans, who was elected to the European Parliament in 1999, and re-elected in 2004, said:

"While we remember and celebrate the five men who founded Plaid Cymru back in 1925, we also have to remember and celebrate the women who, over the years, have played an equal role in building the party we have today. It is the work of those women which ensured that women like myself could get elected for Plaid Cymru."

“1999 was certainly a turning point, with a number of women elected at the European and National Assembly elections. But before that we had hundreds of women councillors up and down the country working in their own communities.

“What we must do now is continue to build on that success, knowing that we have a team of Shadow Ministers at the National Assembly which includes some outstanding women politicians, such as Helen Mary Jones, Janet Ryder, Elin Jones, Janet Davies, Leanne Wood and Jocelyn Davies.

“But we also want to see more and more women joining the ranks of our council groups across the whole of Wales.

“It is essential that Plaid Cymru the Party of Wales enters every election with a balanced team of candidates – a team which reflects the population of Wales as a whole.”

Shadow Social Justice Minister Leanne Wood AM welcomed the growing role of women in the party:

"It is important to be celebrating the role of women in the party, especially in this eightieth anniversary year of Plaid Cymru. Until 1999 we had no prominent elected women politicians in our party. But the role of women has been important since our inception. One day, women will reach the top offices in Welsh politics. I look forward to that day."

Ends.