There have only ever been 13 women MPs in Wales, and it is about to get worse

All political parties show a real bias against selecting women, but many continue to argue that tackling this directly is not necessary – that eventually some sort of natural balance will be found. But this will not happen by itself, so those that support equality of opportunity must continue to campaign for positive action. Getting selected, rather than actually getting women elected, is the problem, and selections are not based on merit – they are based on culture and local networks.

Sadly, special measures remain crucial to getting women elected. Seven of the 13 women MPs ever elected in Wales were selected from women-only shortlists, and there are currently only seven women out of 40 MPs in Wales. We achieved parity in the first assembly election due to twinning – effectively, women were shortlisted in 50 per cent of seats – and we have now fallen back to 45 per cent as Labour selected more men than women in winnable seats when members retired at the last assembly election.

Labour is the only party that has taken specific measures to elect women MPs in Wales, and now they are under threat. The proposed boundary changes will cut to 30 the number of parliamentary constituencies in Wales and it is fairly clear which MPs will need to compete with others to retain their places. Welsh women MPs will be particularly hard hit.

Susan Elan Jones’ and Ann Clwyd’s seats are disappearing. Paul Flynn has announced he will challenge Jessica Morden in Newport, and Madeleine Moon may have to stand against Huw Irranca-Davies for her seat. Only Nia Griffiths and Siân James are safe. There is currently one other Welsh woman MP – Liberal Democrat Jenny Willott in Cardiff Central. Her seat is split in half and with her party’s polling so low she is likely to lose.

Barring the odd retirement, there are only a couple of seats likely to elect a new Labour MP: Cardiff East and Cardiff Central and Penarth. We must make sure both Cardiff seats are fought by women, and the only way we can make sure that happens is to have all-women shortlists. And if Alun Michael wins the Labour selection for South Wales police and crime commissioner, the by-election in November will choose the incumbent for Cardiff Central and Penarth – so that by-election must be fought by a woman.

This would leave us sure of just four out of 30 seats: still a miserable percentage of 13 per cent, and only achieved by special measures. Without all-women shortlists, it is quite possible that we will deliver only two women MPs from 30 at the next election.

No other party is tackling this issue head-on in Wales and they may have even more limited opportunities to bring on new MPs if the boundary changes go through.

We constantly tell people how Labour is the party of equality of opportunity – now it is time to do something about it. We cannot let it be all talk and no trousers.

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Cathy Owens is a former special adviser to the Welsh government

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Photo: Welsh Labour