Pessimistic outlook for women MPs

Thursday, 30 December 2010 12:01 AM

By Alex Stevenson

The coalition government's reforms are unlikely to help increase the number of women MPs, experts have warned.

A number of researchers writing for the December issue of the British Politics journal argue a number of factors make the future "far from rosy" for boosting women's participation in politics.

The researchers, from Birkbeck College, Bristol University and Kingston University, said the coalition's plans to decrease the number of constituencies were unlikely to help.

The new expenses regime presided over by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority is also expected to have a negative impact, reinforcing the "traditional Westminster lifestyle" which mitigates against normal family life.

"The coalition's plans for political reform will likely increase competition for selection at the next general election to women's detriment, and the impact of Ipsa raises the possibility that their supply might decrease too," the article's authors write.

"With disparity in the numbers of incumbent men and women, coupled with the possibility of selectorate discrimination against women, it is unlikely, in the absence of specific mechanisms, that women will be selected in equal numbers for parties' vacant held and winnable seats."

The 2010 general election saw the overall number of women MPs increase from 128 to 142.

This only represents a 2.5% increase on 2005, however, and was only achieved because of Labour's embracing of all-women shortlists, the authors argued.

Evidence suggests neither the Tories nor the Lib Dems are likely to change their approach.

The Conservatives' logic that "faced with the 'best' women candidates, local party 'selectorates' could not fail but to select them" appeared to be failing.

Meanwhile the unpredictable nature of Liberal Democrat results at the 2010 election means "it remains difficult for many within the party to accept that they were anything other than unlucky" when it came to a lower than expected number of women MPs.

"The outcome of the 2010 general election for women's descriptive representation is far from the unqualified success that the media and some within the parties would like us to believe," the authors argue. "In short, this was no breakthrough election."

A Speaker's Conference on improving the situation held before the general election had laid the groundwork for progress, with all parties committing to increase the diversity of representation.

But progress was extremely limited. The authors added: "Will the 2015 parliament look much better than the 2010 one? Most unlikely, unless all political parties put in place measures that guarantee the selection of women in at least half of their vacant held or winnable seats next time around - and that will have to include those where current MPs claim to be the 'incumbent' in any 'new' seats."

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