Women’s equality in the UK – A health check

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harnessing women’s skills. 39 Bold moves by other countries in recent years have overturned
claims of any absence of female leadership potential, and demonstrated that a significant stepchange
in women’s representation is achievable. As noted by UN Women, when women and
men lead together, decisions better reflect and respond to the diverse needs of society. 40
Recommendation:
We recommend that Government introduce quotas for achieving gender parity on
boards and in positions of power across public life, as a key mechanism in not only
increasing the number of women in leadership roles and driving-through a stepchange
in women’s representation, but in improving overall business performance of
UK businesses and the economy
Research has also found that the Government’s reform agenda will impact on women in
public, decision making and scrutiny roles and women will slowly start to disappear from key
areas such as policing, healthcare and economic development. 41 (See Articles 13 and 11 for
more information)
Supporting disabled women to be represented as elected officials (Access to Public
Life Fund)
The stereotyped image of disabled people in general, and disabled women in particular,
(See Article 5 for more on this) does little to help their integration and equal participation in
mainstream society, reducing their visibility as political actors in creating and maintaining
human rights and equality. It also negates the gains in social acceptance won by the Disabled
People’s Movement over the last few decades. 42
There has been no evidence so far that the Access to Public Life Fund 43 set up in 2010 has
had any impact on disabled women and the Government still needs to offer extra support for
disabled women who want to become MPs, councillors or other elected officials to tackle their
under-representation in public policy. (See and Appendix: 36 for further information)
Recommendations:
• Address the fact that disabled women are under-represented in democratic
processes and decision making more generally, as well as in recreational activities,
culture and sport. For example, develop specific rules on participation quotas to
include disabled women
• Adopt measures to ensure the accessibility of polling stations, booths and voting
material for women with disabilities, including permitting an individual an
assistant of their own choice to help them to vote, without external surveillance.
Information on elections and political campaigns must also be made accessible in
the lead up to elections
39. Wittenberg-Cox, A. and Maitland, A. (2008) Why women mean business – Understanding the emergence of our next economic revolution.
John Wiley and Sons Ltd: Chichester
40. Bachelet, M. (2012) The Time is Now: A letter to UN partners from UN Women Executive Director Michelle Bachelet. March 2012 http://
www.unwomen.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/EN-UNW-LetterToPartners_2012-REV_3-9-12.pdf
41. Centre for Women and Democracy (2011) Unintended Consequences: The impact of the Government’s legislative programme on women
in public roles. http://www.cfwd.org.uk/uploads/pdfs/UnintendedConsequencesFinal.pdf
42. Boffey, D. (2011) ‘Welfare to Work policy “casts the disabled as cheats”’, The Observer, 24th July 2011 http://www.guardian.co.uk/
society/2011/jul/24/welfare-policy-incites-hatred-disabled
43. Curtis, P. (2010) ‘Tories plan £1m fund to help disabled people become MPs’, The Guardian, 14th January 2010 http://www.guardian.co.uk/
politics/2010/jan/14/tories-plan-fund-disabled-people
66 Women’s equality in the UK: CEDAW shadow report 2013