Women in the British House of Commons

The representation of Women in the British House of Commons has been an issue in British politics at numerous points in the 21st century. Originally debate centered on whether women should be allowed to vote and stand for election as Members of Parliament. In more modern times concerns about the underrepresentation of women led the Labour Party to introduce all women short lists, something which was later held to breach discrimination laws. Since 1918 only 6% of Members of Parliament elected have been women.^[1]

Contents 1 Suffrage 2 Landmarks and records 3 Current representation 3.1 All-women shortlists 3.2 2010 election 4 See also 5 References 6 Further reading 7 External links

Suffrage

In 1867, John Stewart Mill was the first Member of Parliament to raise the issue of women's suffrage in the House of Commons. Following this attempts were made to widen the franchise in every Parliament.^[2]

Women gained the right to vote with the passing of the Representation of the People Act 1918 after World War I. This gave the vote to women over the age of 30. A Bill which allowed women to stand as MPs was also passed in 1918.

Landmarks and records

• The first successful female candidate was the Sinn Féin politician Countess Constance Markievicz, she however did not take her seat in common with her Irish nationalist parties' policy of abstentionism.^[3]
• The first woman to take her seat in the House of Commons was Nancy Astor, Viscountess Astor.
• The first woman to hold a Ministerial post was Margaret Bondfield who was appointed Under Secretary in the Ministry of Labour in the 1924 government of Ramsay MacDonald.^[1]
• The only female Prime Minister was Margaret Thatcher who led the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990.
• In 1992 Betty Boothroyd was elected as the first female Speaker of the House of Commons.^[2] As of 2009 she remains the only female to hold the office of Speaker.
• Irene Ward was the longest serving female MP in the House of Commons. She was an MP from 1931–1945 and from 1950-1974.^[1]
• Gwyneth Dunwoody was the longest continuously serving female MP. She became an MP in 1974 and died in April 2008, just beating Barbara Castle, who was elected as MP for Blackburn in 1945 and retired in 1979.^[1]

Current representation

All-women shortlists

All-women shortlists, a method of affirmative action has been used by the Labour Party to increase the representation of women. In 2002 this method of selection was ruled to breach the Sex Discrimination Act 1975. In response to this ruling the Sex Discrimination (Election Candidates) Act 2002 legalised all-women short lists as a method of selection. The Equality Act 2010 extends this exemption from discrimination law to 2030.

2010 election

At the 2010 143 women were elected as Members of Parliament. Of these 81 are Labour, 49 Conservative, 7 Liberal Democrat, 1 Sinn Féin, 1 Alliance, 1 Green, 1 SNP, 1 SDLP and 1 Independent.^[1][4]

See also

• Blair Babe - a term used to describe the 101 female Labour MPs elected at the United Kingdom general election, 1997.

References

Further reading

Vallance, Elizabeth Women in the House: a study of women Members of Parliament (Athlone Press, 1979)

External links

• Women in the House of Commons
• [1]