Gender and Minority Representation in Parliament
| DOI | 10.1111/j.2041-9066.2010.00036.x |
| Date | 01 December 2010 |
| Published date | 01 December 2010 |
| Author | Judith Squires |
| Subject Matter | Feature |
diversity of the population. Only a
handful of MPs identify themselves
as disabled, two as lesbian and 15
as gay, while the record increases
in BAME representation still leave
us with just over 4 per cent repre-
sentation as compared to about 8
per cent in the general population.
Although the number of women in
the current Parliament went up, the
relatively small increase – from 128
(19.8 per cent) to 143 (22 per cent)
– was viewed by many women’s
organisations as derisory. The UK
currently ranks joint 52nd in the in-
ternational league table of women
in national parliaments, alongside
the Czech Republic, Eritrea, Latvia
and Uzbekistan (www.ipu.org). This
places the UK above the world aver-
age (which is 19 per cent), but leaves
it significantly behind those countries
topping the table with more than 40
per cent women in their lower (or
single) house, including Rwanda,
Sweden, South Africa, Cuba, Ice-
land, Netherlands and Finland.
Addressing
Underrepresentation
Following the general election Nan
Sloane, director at the Centre for
Women and Democracy, argued that
unless clear and effective steps were
taken to rectify the underrepresenta-
tion of women it would take decades
– if not centuries – to achieve parity.
Similarly, in 2007 the Equalities Re-
Gender and Minority
Representation in
Parliament
The May 2010 general election
returned a record number
of black, Asian and minor-
ity ethnic (BAME) candidates to
Parliament, almost doubling their
representation in the Commons
(from 14 to 27). Nonetheless, the
current composition of the House of
Commons still does not reflect the
The last general election substantially increased the number of women and ethnic minority
MPs but the UK’s Parliament still does not reflect the diversity of its population. What, asks
Judith Squires, can be done to increase the numbers of women and minorities in the House?
view suggested that at the current rate
of change the underrepresentation of
ethnic minorities would not be cor-
rected until 2080, while the Fawcett
Society calculated that it would be
more than three centuries before Par-
liament represents Britain’s popula-
tion of women from ethnic minorities.
So what has led to increased levels of
female and minority representation to
date, and what steps might be taken
to further improve on this in future?
There are a range of cultural and
economic factors that have been
shown to affect the level of women’s
representation internationally, rang-
ing from the level of secularism and
the length of time that women have
had the vote, to rates of female par-
ticipation in paid employment and
levels of state provision of childcare.
Yet political factors, such as party
ideology, electoral system and can-
didate selection rules, are clearly
crucial. Internationally, higher levels
of female representation have gener-
ally been secured within parties on
the left, under proportional electoral
systems, and where selection rules
require that women are selected.
A Quota Solution?
In the past two decades gender quo-
tas have been adopted by more than
100 countries globally. There are two
main types of gender quota: party and
legislative. Party quotas are measures
that are adopted voluntarily by po-
Press Association Images
Diane Abbott was one of the UK’s rst minority MPs
82 Political Insight
To continue reading
Request your trial