Minister for Women and Equalities

The post of Minister for Women and Equalities is a ministerial position in the United Kingdom with responsibility for addressing all forms of discrimination, with particular emphasis on gender inequality.

History

The position of Minister of Women was created by Tony Blair when he became prime minister as a means of prioritising women's issues across government. Prior to that, there had been an equality unit in the Cabinet Office and a Cabinet committee, which were continued under the leadership under the new minister.^[1] When Gordon Brown succeeded Blair, he created the post of Minister for Women and Equality to handle a wider range of equalities issues. The first Minister for Women and, ten years later, the first Minister for Women and Equality was Harriet Harman. On 12 October 2007^[2] a new department, the Government Equalities Office was created to support the minister. When David Cameron became prime minister, he gave the position its current name without a change in its responsibilities. Since its creation, the position has always been held by a minister sitting in Cabinet by virtue of another office (i.e., a secretary of state or leader of one of the Houses of Parliament).

Despite calls from people such as Lord Northbourne for a minister to concentrate on issues specific to men, there is no Minister for Men or similar office.^[3]

List of Ministers

For Women

for Women and Equality

For Women and Equalities

References