Women in Politics

Can you imagine if our country looked like our parliament? Only 35% of Britons would be women. These missing women show that our parliament does not truly represent the nation.

We can’t afford to be left lagging behind on the fundamental issue of women’s representation.

At the current rate of change, a child born today will be drawing her pension before she has an equal say in the government of her country. We think we can do better than that.

First Past the Post is holding back women’s representation

Under First Past the Post the same person will often hold on to the one ‘safe seat’ for decades. It’s no surprise that this is very often a man, when historically men held nearly all the seats.

With few seats changing hands at each general election, there are limited opportunities for women to become MPs.

Section 106 of the Equality Act

How many women stand for selection and election every year? It’s hard to tell. Political parties don’t have to publish data on the diversity of their candidates or those who put themselves forward. Yet knowing this would help improve women’s representation in our parliaments.

Section 106 of the Equality Act 2010 would require political parties to publish diversity data on candidates standing in elections to the House of Commons, Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly. The legislation already exists, it just needs to be enacted.