Electoral Reform Society: Women's breakthrough at next election 'impossible'

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Wednesday, 02, Jul 2008 12:00

On the 80th Anniversary of universal suffrage, research shows number of female MPs at next General Election stuck at ‘97 levels.

There is no prospect of increasing the number of women MPs at the next election, according to new research from the Electoral Reform Society published today. As the country marks eighty years since universal suffrage, analysis of parliamentary candidates has revealed that the parties have not done enough to ensure that an increase in women MPs is even a possibility.

Eight decades on from the ‘Flapper Vote’ and women are still being passed over by local parties when they choose candidates for winnable seats. The Society’s research shows that if, as expected, the Conservatives increase their share of the vote at the next election, the number of women MPs will at best remain the same – and most likely fall.

Women currently make up just 20% of the House of Commons today, a figure virtually unchanged since the Labour’s landslide in 1997.

The Liberal Democrats and Conservatives look set to improve their own parties’ gender balance – but the likely loss of dozens of marginal seats currently held by female Labour MPs would offset any gains in the overall representation on women in the House.

Dr Ken Ritchie, Chief Executive of the Electoral Reform Society said:

“This year we have marked 90 years since women in Britain first won the vote. Today we celebrate a further milestone: 80 years since full equality between men and women was finally achieved at the ballot box. But equality in law has not meant equality at Westminster.

“Which ever way you spin it, the next election simply cannot prove a watershed moment for women in politics. Progress has always been hard fought, and the parties are simply not picking their battles.

“1997 was in many ways a false dawn for equality. In the last decade where we’ve needed concerted effort, we’ve seen stagnation. The modest numbers of women in parliament have been taken as a permanent breakthrough. In place of an upward curve we have seen a plateau, in what remains a male dominated institution.”

Beatrice Barleon, the Society’s Women’s Officer said:

“The parties talk a lot about the need for greater equality but in every likely scenario for the next election, they can’t deliver. That’s not to say the parties have done nothing – just not enough.

“And the blame can’t just lie with the parties: our voting system fails women – and minority groups. The evidence from around the world is unambiguous – where there is a fairer, more proportional system, countries have more women and minority representatives.

“At the moment, if you want to support a party, you have to vote for whoever they put up as your local candidate, which still most likely to be a man. In contrast, a more proportional system like STV would provide parties with an incentive to field a more diverse range of candidates – allowing voters to choose the candidate from their favourite party that they identify with the most.

“Our current system has denied voters the simple opportunity to choose a female candidate in a winnable seat, holding back the breakthroughs seen in other European countries, and even in our own devolved assemblies. Scotland and Wales, with their proportional systems, have much better ratios of women MPs – the Welsh Assembly now ranking among the world’s top flight for women’s representation.

“Candidate selections aren’t quite over, but the last holdouts in a handful of undecided seats cannot make an impact. If the politicians are serious about equality then they will need to do more than just tinker at the margins. Obviously they need to stand female candidates where they have a chance of getting elected. And of course voters have to be prepared to elect them. But as our European neighbours have proved, you need a system that opens doors to female politicians.”

LIKELY SCENARIOS FOR GENDER COMPOSITION OF THE NEXT PARLIAMENT

Total seats Men Women TBA Women %

2005 election 646 518 128 0 19.8

No change 650 497 138 15 21.2

Lost Lab majority 650 502 135 13 20.8

Con largest single party 650 504 134 12 20.6

Conservative majority 650 516 122 12 18.8

Conservative working majority 650 517 120 13 18.5

Increased Lab majority 2% swing 650 484 149 17 22.9

Based on all available data on candidates and incumbents as at 29 June 2008, and allowing for new boundaries – ‘No change’ indicates a result exactly in line with 2005 but on the new parliamentary boundaries and new selections in cases where MPs have indicated they will stand down.

Explanatory notes, and breakdowns by party are available here...

http://www.electoral-reform.org.uk/downloads/genderrepnextGE.pdf

ENDS

NOTES TO EDITORS:

Photo Op Running order:

Location: Old Palace Yard

Times: 9.00 – 12.30

To mark the occasion some 21st Century ‘Flappers’ will be protesting outside parliament, to remind politicians that 80 years on we are still waiting for equality.