More Women in European Politics

Tanya Hughes Director

Ballybeen Women’s Centre

National

Political Structure

• UK – Constitutional Monarchy in which Monarch is head of state & Prime Minister is head of government

• Executive power is exercised by Her Majesty’s Government as well as by the devolved Governments of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland

• Legislative power is vested in the two chambers of the Parliament of the UK, the House of Commons and the House of Lords, as well as in the Scottish parliament and Welsh and Northern Ireland Assemblies

• The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. The highest national court is the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom

• The House of Commons is the lower house of the UK Parliament which, like the House of Lords (the upper house), meets in the Palace of Westminster

• The House of Commons is a democratically elected body consisting of 650 members known as Members of Parliament (MPs). Members are elected to represent constituencies by first-past-the-post and hold their seats until Parliament is dissolved.

Con Lab LD Other TotalMALEHouse of Commons 257 174 50 23 504House of Lords 173 160 64 236 633National Assembly of Wales 10 15 3 7 35Scottish Parliament 9 20 4 51 84Northern Ireland Assembly 88 88London Assembly 8 7 1 1 17European Parliament 19 8 5 16 48FEMALEHouse of Commons 48 83 7 6 144House of Lords 39 65 26 50 180National Assembly of Wales 4 15 2 4 25Scottish Parliament 6 17 1 21 45Northern Ireland Assembly 20 20London Assembly 1 5 1 1 8European Parliament (UK Members) 6 5 6 7 24% FEMALEHouse of Commons 16% 32% 12% 21% 22%House of Lords 18% 29% 29% 17% 22%National Assembly of Wales 29% 50% 20% 36% 42%Scottish Parliament 40% 46% 20% 29% 35%Northern Ireland Assembly 19% 19%London Assembly 11% 42% 50% 50% 32%European Parliament (UK Members) 24% 38% 55% 30% 33%

UK General Election May 2010

Country Total Number of Seats

Number of Women MPs %Women MPs

England 533 119 22%

Scotland 59 13 22%

Wales 40 7 17.5%

Northern Ireland 18 4 22.2%

TOTAL 650 143 22%

Regional Variations

Region Total Number of Seats

Number of Women MPs %Women MPs

East of England 58 9 15.5%

East Midlands 46 11 23.9%

Greater London 73 24 32.9

North East England 29 10 34.5

North West England 75 16 21.3

South East England 84 14 16.7

South West England 55 11 20

West Midlands 59 13 22

Yorkshire & Humber 54 10 18.5

Scotland 59 13 22

Wales 40 7 17.5%

Northern Ireland 18 4 22.2%

TOTAL 650 142 22%

Election year Number of % women

women MPs MPs

1979 19 3.01983 23 3.51987 41 6.31992 60 9.21997 120 18.22001 118 17.92005 128 19.52010 143 22.0

Women in the House of Commons

WOMEN MINISTERS

•Currently 4 out of 22 (18%) Cabinet posts are held by women.

•Of 121 Government Ministers, including the Cabinet, whips, Lords in waiting and 13 unpaid positions 23 (19%) are women. •Prior to 2010 election 30% of ministers were women

Devolved Legislatures

NATIONAL ASSEMBLY FOR

WALES 2011 ELECTION

No. of women (60 total seats)(2007 total in

brackets)

No of women in constituency

seats (40 total seats)

No of women in regional seats (20 total seats)

Labour 15 (16) 13 2

Plaid Cymru 4 (7) 1 3

Conservative 4 (1) 2 2

Liberal Democrat 2 (3) 1 1

Independent / Other 0 (1) 0 0

TOTAL 25 (28) 17 8

1999 Elections 40% 2003 Elections 50% 2007 Elections 46.7% 2011 Elections 41.7%

Women as total % of National Assembly for Wales

Wales

SCOTTISH PARLIAMENT

2011 ELECTION

No. of women (129 total

seats)(2007 total in

brackets)

No of women in constituency

seats(73 total seats)

No of women in regional

seats(56 total seats)

Labour 18 (23) 7 11Scottish

National Party 19 (12) 14 5

Conservative 6 (5) 0 6Liberal

Democrat 1 (2) 0 1

Green Party 1 (0) 0 1Independent /

Other 1 (1) 0 1

TOTAL 46 (43) 21 25

1999 Elections 37.2%2003 Elections 39.5% 2007 Elections 33.3% 2011 Elections 35.6%

Women as total % of Scottish Parliament

Scotland

Northern Ireland

NORTHERN IRELAND ASSEMBLY RESULTS 2011

Party Total Seats Women % Women

APNI 8 2 25

DUP 38 5 13

SDLP 14 3 21

SF 29 8 28

UUP 16 2 12.5

Other 3 - 0

Total 108 20 18.5%

London Assembly LONDON ASSEMBLY RESULTS 2012

Party Total Seats Women % Women

Conservative 9 1 11

Labour 12 5 42Liberal

Democrats 2 1 50

Other 2 1 50

Total 25 8 32%

Local Government

% of women elected as councillors at local government level:

England2011 – 30.7%

Scotland 2012 – 24.3%

Northern Ireland2011 - 23%

Wales2012 – 26.3%

Europe

EUROPE UK European election results by gender and party, 2009

Party Total MEP’s Elected

Women Men % Women

BNP 2 0 2 0

Conservative 25 6 19 24

Conservative & Unionist

1 0 1 0

DUP 1 1 0 100

Green 2 2 0 100

Labour 13 5 8 38

Liberal Democrat 11 6 5 55

Plaid Cymru 1 1 0 100

Sinn Fein 1 1 0 100

SNP 2 0 0 0

UKIP 13 2 11 15

Other 5 0 5 0

TOTAL 72 25 47 35%

(Total 2004 78 20 58 26%)

MEP’s by Region

Region Number of Seats Number of Women

East Midlands 5 2

Eastern 7 1

London 8 4

North East 3 1

North West 8 2

South East 10 4

South West 6 1

West Midlands 6 2

Yorkshire & the Humber

6 2

Scotland 6 1

Wales 4 2

Northern Ireland 3 2

TOTAL 72 24

% of MEPs by countryJuly 2009

Addressing Underrepresentation

EQUALITY LEGISLATION– Sex discrimination Act 2002 – allowed political parties to use

positive action in the selection of election candidates. Now amalgamated to

– Equality Act 2010 – extends the provision to exempt political parties from sex discrimination law until 2030

UKLabour – only party to use provision & policy of all women shortlists to address gender imbalance in partyConservatives – do not use all-women shortlists but the marked increase in women MP’s is evidence of Con Central Parliamentary Selection Board to place more women on lists

Addressing Underrepresentation

A QUOTA SOLUTION?2 main types –Party – adopted voluntarily by party to aim for a certain proportion of female candidates (25-50%). Govern composition of party lists (PR electoral systems) or selection of candidates (plurality systems))Legislative – mandatory provisions applying to all partiesEffectiveness:Last 30 years has seen a significant increase in women in politics in states here PR exists, but only modest through Plurality/majority systems The British first-past-the-post system and the French two-round system are known to work against women.

Addressing Underrepresentation

SHORTLISTSAll women shortlists are a good example of the way selection rules can affect female representation.

Cons & Lab had more women candidates than at previous elections & %age of female MP’s in each party increased

Conclusions• Range of cultural and economic factors affect the level of women’s

representation internationally - level of secularism, length of time women have had vote to rates of women in paid employment and levels of state of childcare

• Yet political factors such as party ideology, electoral systems (FPTP) and candidate selection rules are clearly crucial

• Internationally, PR electoral systems, where selection rules require that women are selected have resulted in rise in women’s representation

• Extension of the Sex Discrimination Act 2002 to enable the use of al women shortlists until 2030 should make a difference in relation to gender, if all parties use it

However!

UK is placed 52nd on table of women’s representation in Parliaments worldwide

UK also remains behind most European Parliaments which tend to have PR election systems

At the current rate of change & under current system it will take a further 200 yrs to achieve parity in the number of women and men n parliament

B

What have we done to promote women n politics?• Education and training programmes• European Projects - • Study Visits• Meetings and debates with elected

representatives• Collective lobbying and campaigning• Ensure representation on working groups and

consultative bodies