Women’s political representation remains poor and progress towards equality has again been glacial.
The Conservatives will no doubt trumpet the increase in their female MPs, but this only looks good compared with just how bad they were before. Out of their 306 seats there are 48 Tory women, just 16 per cent, which is up from 9 per cent in the last parliament. The Liberal Democrats have gone backwards, down to 7 women from 9, which is a decrease from 16 per cent to 12 per cent.
But Labour has achieved an increase from 27 per cent to 31 per cent by using the All Women Shortlists (AWS) in 50 per cent of retiring MPs’ seats. However, because the total of Labour MPs is less the actual number is down from 94 to 81. There are also six women from the smaller parties.
So we have the highest ever number of women elected, but still it will only comprise 22 per cent of the House of Commons. That’s 142 women today compared with 126 (19.5 per cent) before the general election.
Women’s representation does well when their political party does well. Proportionally more women are selected in marginal seats, so when the party wins votes the numbers of women MPs climbs significantly; when the party’s vote declines the number of women MPs declines at a greater rate. As Liberal Democrat women in the last parliament were in marginal seats the loss of three women was not unexpected. In total they lost 13 seats – so women comprise nearly 25 per cent of those seats whilst being only 16 per cent of their parliamentary party. They did make 8 gains, but only one of those had a female candidate.
Although the Liberal Democrats did worst in this election, it is the Conservative party that has most let women down. Around 25 per cent of their new intake comprise women, which significantly increases their overall proportion. But the election was an opportunity missed. With so many long standing Tory MPs retiring in safe seats they could have chosen many more women as candidates. Instead new male MPs in their thirties and forties will remain in place for many years, thus making it harder to maintain and increase female representation.
The Labour party strategy of insisting on 50 per cent selection of women in previously held Labour seats has proven its worth. We have seen the proportion of women on our parliamentary benches increase over the past twenty years. In 2005 a record breaking 65 per cent of new Labour MPs were female. This time it’s down to 50 per cent – still double what the Conservatives achieved.
Using international comparisons we remain well down the league table of women’s representation in parliament. We find ourselves with neighbours also on 22 per cent: Uzbekistan, Eritrea and Latvia. We are well below Rwanda, the only parliament with more than 50 per cent women, Uganda 31 per cent and Vietnam with nearly 26 per cent.
The Speaker’s Conference on Parliamentary Representation had 71 recommendations to improve our poor situation. All the political party leaders need to stand by the commitments that they have given, and those elected to this House of Commons need to show we’re serious about ensuring that women’s representation reflects our society.
I think Afghanistan is also above 50% for women represented in the Lower House
Well, thanks, Anita, for reminding us that Afghanistan, that very paradise of peace, progress and reform has 50% female parliament members. (I’m not joking about progress; as per my post on Lucy Gill, progress means aggressive war, whereas fascism a la Nick Griffin means peace.) Plainly, their presence has contributed to the excellent social, political and economic situation in this joint colony of Bush-Obama and Blair-Brown-Cameron. Now for the other paragons listed by Meg Munn:Uzbekistan, Eritrea and Latvia. We are well below Rwanda, the only parliament with more than 50 per cent women, Uganda 31 per cent and Vietnam with nearly 26 per cent. Of these only Latvia has any claim to democracy at all; Uganda and Rwanda don’t have elections at all, and in the latter the Hutu majority is permanently excluded, on the basis of collective guilt for the murders of the mid90s. THAT INCLUDES HUTU WOMEN – or does Meg view them as honorary men (sisterhood is powerful…) As for Vietnam, surely other VSC veterans than myself were well aware that the Vietnamese Communist Party which ran the NLF was run by old-fashioned sensible Stalinists who regarded the democratic pretensions of the VSCs in the imperialist countries as useful idiots (and were ready to slap down the genocidalist ultra-left Khmer Rouge). We even believed Labour government assurances that the SAS weren’t active supporting the US genocidalists. Plus c,a change. Museveni’s clique seems to benefit mainly from a traditonial imperial hostility to Obote and Idi Amin (perhaps MM wants to see a Queen Freddie in charge?). In Latvia, old fashioned anti-communism is pretty popular, and David Miliband takes after his anti-parliamentary dad Ralph in Marxist proclamations that East Europeans who don’t want to be raped, murdered or exiled by the USSR must meekly wait until Churchill and Eisenhower arrive and liberate them…..any other alliances and these Easterners must all be Nazis…..So let’s not hear NuLab paeans to Latvia unless they are accompanied by a support for genuine national liberation al 1941 and 1945…not just opportunist 1989-90 self-congratulations….
Alternatively, there is NO correlation between the proportion of female law-makers and social progress of any sort whatsoever. (above, we have blundered into an INVERSE correlation!). In which case only female careeerists and selfless feminists can have any time for quota-mongery.
Yes Meg, you earned your ministerial salary very precisely…
fraternally
Bill