Women at Westminster

Women were first allowed to stand as MPs at Westminster in 1918.

But even now, just under 20 per cent of MPs are women, meaning the politicians who make decisions on our behalf still do not reflect the population as a whole.

At the 2005 general election 128 women were elected as MPs. By 2006 the overall number of women MPs fell to 126 after the sad deaths of two women MPs.

Currently the Labour Party has 97 women MPs (27% of the party), the Liberal Democrats 9 women MPs (14% of the party) and the Conservatives 17 (9% of the party).

At the current rate of change, Fawcett has found it will take Labour around 20 years to get to 50-50 women and men, the Lib Dems around 40 years and the Conservatives around 400!

What's the problem?

Fawcett's research has shown that the problem lies mainly with the political parties and their selection procedures. In addition to the discrimination they face, there are four other factors that can prevent women standing for parliament - the 'four Cs' of culture, childcare, cash and confidence.

We have also found that positive action, such as all-women shortlists, have proven to be the only reliable way to significantly increase the numbers of women representatives - and this is the case the world over.

Fawcett's long-standing campaign to increase the numbers of MPs is based on the fact that as the numbers of women in politics increases, matters of importance to women move further up the political agenda.

Downloads on this page

From the blue boxes on the right page you can follow links to related pages on this topic or download:

• The latest figures on the numbers of women at Westminster
  
  
• Three separate documents outlining our research on the experiences of women candidates for the main three UK parties
  
  
• The four 'C's - our analysis of the barriers to women entering politics
  
  
• Research which shows that where there is a female MP, voter turnout increase.