Women in politics

Can you imagine if our country looked like our parliament? Only 32% of Britons would be women. These missing women show that our parliament does not truly represent the nation.

After the 2017 election our parliament now sits at 41st in the women’s representation league tables, between Guyana and Andora. 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.

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.