'More Women in the House, please' says local MP
July 4, 2008 10:49 AM
Andrew Stunell with members of the Electoral Reform Society
More must be done to improve the representation of women in Parliament according to local MP, Andrew Stunell.
Now to commemorate the 80th anniversary of women's right to vote, the Hazel Grove MP is joining with the Electoral Reform Society to encourage more women to stand for Parliament.
This comes as new research reveals that women are still being passed over in selection for winnable seats and that the number of female MPs could even fall at the next General Election.
At present women only make up 20% of the House of Commons, a figure that has remained virtually unchanged in a generation.
Commenting Mr Stunell said:
"Women still face staggering inequalities in the work place and Parliament is no different. The waste of many women's talents is bad for women and bad for Britain.
"All parties need to work harder to draw more female candidates to them and not merely pay lip service to improving equality.
"However, the blame can't just lie with the parties: our voting system has consistently failed women. The evidence from around the world is clear - where there is a fairer, more proportional system, countries have more female representatives.
ENDS
Notes to editors:
1. For more information about likely scenarios for gender composition following the next General Election, please see:
http://www.electoral-reform.org.uk/downloads/genderrepnextGE.pdf
2. On 2 July 1928, the Representation of the People Act 1928 was passed. This Act gave women electoral equality with men.
3. The Inter-Parliamentary Union maintains detailed up to date figures on gender composition of parliaments by country. Britain is in joint 58th place with Cambodia http://www.ipu.org/wmn-e/classif.htm. Of the countries placed above Britain only a tiny minority rely on majoritarian systems like First-Past-the-Post or AV.
4. Historical data on the gender composition of the House of Commons is available from the House of Commons Information Office http://www.parliament.uk/documents/upload/M04.pdf
5. Still only a minority of seats in the UK have seen women's representation. Earlier research based on this topic is available here: http://electoral-reform.org.uk/downloads/MAP%20COMPLETE.pdf. Source data is available here: http://www.electoral-reform.org.uk/downloads/womens%20map%20data%20.pdf
6. The Electoral Reform Society is part of the 2008: Women and the Vote campaign. See www.womenandthevote.com. Partners include Centre for Women and Democracy: www.cfwd.org.uk, Engender - www.engender.org.uk, The Fawcett Society - www.fawcett.org.uk, The Hansard Society - www.hansardsociety.org.uk and Unlock Democracy - www.unlockdemocracy.org.uk
7. For further comment please contact the Society's press office on 020 79281622, or Ashley De on 07968791684 or Ashley.de@electoral-reform.org.uk
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