Public want more women MPs

Nearly two-thirds of the public (63 per cent) think there are too few women in Parliament, Minister for Women and Equality Harriet Harman will say in a debate in the House of Commons today to mark International Women’s Day.

The new survey, commissioned by the Government Equalities Office, shows that nearly half (49 per cent) think there will be equal numbers of male and female MPs within the next twenty years, however, at the current rate of change, the reality is that it will be 200 years before there are an equal number of women and men in the House of Commons.

Other key findings from the survey include:

·         Nearly three-quarters (73 per cent) think that it is important that women and men have an equal say in political decisions on how Britain is run.

·         More than four out of five people (82 per cent) believe that the presence of women MPs help ensure policies and law reflect the needs of women as well as men, for example on maternity leave and pay, and on domestic violence.

·         88 per cent think that men and women bring different experiences and perspectives to decision making about public services.

The Government is taking steps to enable more women to come into Parliament through the Equality Bill, which will allow political parties to extend the use of women-only shortlists to 2030. In addition, an amendment has been added to the Equality Bill which could require political parties to report on the diversity of their candidate selections, implementing one of the recommendations by the Speaker’s Conference.

Harriet Harman, Minister for Women and Equality, said: ‘This poll shows that the public have turned decisively against men-only decision-making. They think that men and women should have an equal say over the political decisions that affect the way Britain is run. They think that international political decisions should be taken by men and women having an equal say. This shift in public opinion offers a massive challenge for everyone – for political parties, for business, and for the public sector – but it’s a helpful challenge and one that we should welcome as providing the impetus for yet further progressive change.’

Currently women make up nearly 20 per cent of MPs in the House of Commons, compared with nine per cent before 1997. This compares with women Members making up nearly half (46.7 per cent) of the Welsh Assembly, and 34.8 per cent of the Scottish Parliament. To reflect society, the House of Commons would need about 200 more women MPs (more than two and a half times as many) as there are now, of which there needs to be about 30 more black, Asian or minority ethnic female MPs (fifteen times as many) as there are now.

On local and International politics, the survey showed that:

·         More than three-quarters (76 per cent) think men and women should have equal say in international political decisions.

·         The same proportion (76 per cent) think men and women should have equal say in decisions that affect local services in their area.

In areas outside of Parliament:

·         The majority (60 per cent) think that there should be a good balance of men and women Judges, while in reality only about one in seven[2] High Court Judges are women.

·         Two-thirds (66 per cent) think teachers should be made up of a good balance of men and women, as should doctors (63%).

·         Women were notably more likely than men to want a good gender balance for all the above professions; with ten to fifteen percentage points more than men in each case.

·         The majority of people think both men and women should share decisions about how the NHS, schools, policing are run, although markedly more women think this than men – ranging from eleven to sixteen percentage points more in each case.

Ms Harman will open a debate in the House of Commons today, Thursday 11th March 2010, ‘International Women’s Day – Women’s Representation’. It will address the need to build on existing work to improve women’s representation and support the establishment of the new UN agency for women. Ms Harman is also speaking today at the TUC woman’s conference in Eastbourne.

Tags: Women in Politics

Posted by Vicki Owen on Wednesday, March 10th, 2010 at 9:00 am.

Filed under Careers, Data Bank, Equality, Events, News, Tagged as: , Women in Politics.