Women’s equality in the UK – A health check

7.3
7.4
7.5
7.6
decreased by 4.3%. All the political parties have improved to some degree but none will achieve
50:50 male/female representation in the near future. Currently 16% of Conservative MPs are
women, 32% of Labour MPs and 12% of Liberal Democrats. In terms of women’s representation
at the local level, 35% of all local councillors were women, 9 an increase from 30.6% in 2010, 10
but only 12.3% of council leaders in England, 13.3% of elected mayors and 14.6% of Police
and Crime Commissioners. 11
In 2012, 22% of all Peers in the House of Lords were women, 12 an increase from 19.7% in 2008 and
16.5% in 2003, 13 and 35% of all the UK’s elected Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) are
women. 14 The UK currently ranks joint 57th in terms of female representation worldwide. 15
There are three main stages where parties can intervene to improve gender balance in the
candidacy cycle: the supply pool of women candidates available for selection; the selection
of candidates; and the election of candidates (for example, fielding candidates in ‘strategic’
seats). Parties have differed in their approach to increase women’s representation within their
parties. All main parties have robust women’s networks that aim to grow the supply of women
candidates and support them in selection and election. However, parties’ interventions at
selection and election stages differ. For example, equality and diversity training for selectorate
boards does not exist across all parties, and only the Labour party has adopted women-only
shortlists and proactively fielded women candidates in winnable seats.
Currently, women in parliament are a fairly homogenous group and there is an underrepresentation
of women from diverse backgrounds within political life. LGB&T and Black,
Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) women, women from lower socio-economic backgrounds,
younger and older women, and disabled women, are hugely underrepresented in politics.
Whilst parties have pioneered initiatives (for example, the Liberal Democratic party has
launched its ‘Leadership Programme’) progress is not happening fast enough and commitment
and leadership is needed from Government and political parties to create the necessary
traction for change.
The Government has adopted temporary special measures to increase the number of women
in Parliament, 16 (See Article 4) allowing political parties to adopt women-only shortlists for
parliamentary candidates. However, few political parties are employing these provisions in
proactively tackling the underrepresentation of women within their parties and in addressing
issues of supply and election of women.
Recommendation:
The Government should actively ensure that all political parties adopt proactive
equality guarantees (such as women-only shortlists, twinning etc.) to redress the
gender imbalance within the supply pool of party candidates and the selection and
election of party candidates
9. Centre for Women and Democracy (2012) Representing Change: Women in the 2012 Local Elections in England http://www.cfwd.org.uk/
uploads/Representing%20Change%202012%20Local%20Elections.pdf
10. Centre for Women and Democracy (2011) Representative Democracy? Women in the 2011 Local Elections in England http://www.cfwd.org.
uk/uploads/pdfs/RepresentativeDemocracyFinal.pdf
11. Centre for Women and Democracy (2013) Sex and Power 2013: Who runs Britain? Counting Women In Coalition: London http://
www.countingwomenin.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Sex-and-Power-2013-FINALv2.-pdf.pdf?utm_medium=email&utm_
source=WRC&utm_campaign=2282094_WRC+March+e-news&dm_i=4DW,1CWVI,BQJQT,4LVG0,1
12. Hough, D. (2013) Women in Parliament and Government. www.parliament.uk/briefing-papers/SN01250.pdf
13. Kelly, R. and White, I. (2009) All-women Shortlists. www.parliament.uk/briefing-papers/SN05057.pdf
14. Centre for the Advancement of Women in Politics (2010) UK Women Members of the European Parliament http://www.qub.ac.uk/cawp/
UKhtmls/UKMEPs04.htm
15. Inter-Parliamentary Union (2013) Women in National Parliaments. http://www.ipu.org/wmn-e/classif.htm Accessed: 22/03/13
16. S.104 & S.105 Equality Act 2010 http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/15/contents
62 Women’s equality in the UK: CEDAW shadow report 2013