In 2008 David Cameron said:
‘What I have said is that it would be my aspiration that by the end of the Conservative government, a third of the ministers of that government would be women’.
I can only hope that the new government hasn’t started as it means to go on. Despite the fact that the number of women in parliament has increased from 126 to 142, which is a disappointing increase in itself, this has not translated into women in positions of power in the government.
It is true that Conservatives increased their numbers of women to 48 from 18, and whilst there are arguments that the new generation of women MPs will go on to great things, it will take them time to move through the governmental ranks and there are already great women who have spent years in opposition who deserve a place in government.
To help increase their numbers of women in parliament, the Conservatives introduced the A-List, which also put forward strong black, minority and ethnic candidates. However, only 38 of the original 100 on the A-list were actually elected. Women tipped to do great things in this new government like Pippa Stroud failed to topple the sitting MP and take their place on the Westminster benches. It was many of these same seats failing to change hands, which meant the Conservatives failed to obtain the seats they needed for a majority.
Instead, they formed a coalition with the Liberal Democrats, who have seen their number of women MPs decrease in much the same way that they saw their overall number of MPs decrease. There are now seven instead of nine Liberal Democrat female MPs. So despite securing a majority in the House of Commons, the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats still fail to have the largest number of women MPs. Labour may have lost 13 female MPs at the 2010 general election, but will still have 81 sitting on their opposition benches.
In Cameron and Clegg’s first joint press conference, Cameron said that the new government would be underpinned by principles of “freedom, fairness and responsibility”; which I for one hoped would mean more equality and not a predominantly white, male-dominated politics.
As part of their coalition deal, the Liberal Democrats were rewarded with five cabinet positions, and not one of these has been given to a woman. Only four women attended the first cabinet meeting. Three of those were MPs and one a member of the House of Lords: Theresa May as home secretary, Caroline Spelman as secretary of state for environment, food and rural affairs, Baroness Warsi as minister without portfolio and co-chair of the Conservative party and Cheryl Gillan as secretary of state for Wales.
As an aside, whilst I think it is right to criticise the lack of women that have been so far included in the government, Theresa May’s appointment as home secretary is commendable. She has worked hard to prove that women deserve their place in parliament, not having been elected with the help of positive discrimination, and has been rewarded with a job that only one woman has held previously, Jacqui Smith under Gordon Brown’s leadership.
Leading the way for women for the Liberal Democrats is Sarah Teather who has been appointed as a minister of state in the department of education. She is joined by a number of other prominent Conservative women in ministerial positions including Baroness Neville-Jones as security minister, the position she shadowed; Justine Greening as economic secretary in the treasury and Theresa Villiers, who although previously the shadow secretary of state for transport, has been demoted to minister of state under Philip Hammond.
It has yet to be seen how many women will take their place in junior ministerial positions and as prominent members of select committees, but it is unlikely that this will satisfy demand.
Instead, it will fall to those newly elected women who have had great expectations heaped onto their shoulders to prove they deserve to be in government. It will be hard work, with so many watching their every move, hoping that they can pave the way for greater representation of women in parliament and government and only time will tell us whether Cameron’s aspiration can become a reality.