Job sharing has clear advantages in providing opportunities for women with caring responsibilities—caring for young children or for older members of the family. As women still make up the majority of carers, creating opportunities to combine caring responsibilities with work as an Assembly Member could lead to increasing the number of women represented here at the Assembly. Job sharing could be a much more convenient option if you're a women with young children, particularly so if you live far away from Cardiff Bay and need to spend a period of time every week away from home.

So, how would it work, then, in terms of Assembly Members sharing their jobs? These are some of my ideas, and some of the ideas that have arisen from the work of the Fawcett Society. These are things for us to discuss, clearly, if we want to pursue this path. But, initially, the two people would need to present themselves as one team from the outset. Both candidates would need to be judged by their parties as being qualified and having the appropriate qualifications—both. In being selected by their parties, and again in being elected, a clear and comprehensive statement would need to be made about what they believe, their priorities, and their objectives that have been agreed jointly. Candidates for job sharing should detail the rules that will be adopted to determine their working arrangements on a daily basis.

It's important that there isn't a need to be too prescriptive here. Flexibility is vital in terms of these working arrangements. Perhaps they would work at different times of the week or different parts of the parliamentary year, working the in the constituency, or in Cardiff, sharing constituency work on the weekend, based on a rota perhaps, sharing portfolios or campaigns. The working pattern could vary according to circumstances and change over time. One could travel to the Senedd in the middle of every week and do the work here in the Chamber and on committees, while the other could deal with casework in the constituency. But, truth be told, this would be a matter for discussion, with flexibility being key.

This could also change over time as well, perhaps with a Member with caring responsibilities for young children spending more time in the constituency at the beginning, but with this pattern changing over time. This would be a good way of attracting women with children to the role, and the job share could come to an end as these responsibilities decrease, allowing for a period of mentoring to engender confidence, which would make being a candidate for the Assembly much more attractive to many more people, including, of course, women.

Two people would share the work of representing their constituents. Two Assembly Members sharing a job would have one vote, and the public should be clear who will be voting and when. The Assembly Members would win or lose an election as one person and would be held to account as one person by constituents. Of course, a protocol would need to be agreed to deal with any differences of opinion. This is important, but there is a way around it. Having that communication clear at the beginning is very important. And remember, of course, that Members of parties are accountable to their parties, and parties have their own procedures for dealing with any disagreement if that kind of situation were to arise. Clear communication between the two candidates for job sharing, between the candidates and their parties, and between candidates and constituents is vital to the success of job sharing.

And it is easy to draw attention to some of the problems, and I see that the issue of voting could be one of the issues here, but that's just one issue. It's easy enough to draw attention to some of the problems, but I think that we need to discuss the concept in a great deal of detail, because I do believe that no stone should be left unturned in the effort to achieve a nation of gender equality in Wales. This could be a small part of the jigsaw—a very small part—that we need, and we here at the Assembly have an opportunity to consider this part of the jigsaw as part of the suite of electoral reforms that are being discussed at present. So, let us consider this and discuss it, and let us come to a decision, hopefully, that will allow us to move in this direction. Thank you.