Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Why aren’t there more women MPs?

It’s 100 years today since women were able to stand for Parliament, and the Women and Equalities Committee marked it with a hearing on the barriers to getting more female MPs. It has only been in the past few years that the total number of women ever elected into Parliament has passed the number of men currently sitting on the green benches, and 32 per cent of MPs are women. This puts the UK at 48 in the world rankings for gender representation in its Parliament, which isn’t great.

I was one of those giving evidence to the Committee this morning, using research I’ve conducted for my book, Why We Get The Wrong Politicians. The cost of standing for Parliament rules out large sections of society, and disproportionately affects women, given the gender pay gap and the ongoing expectation that they will be the main caregivers in their families. Culturally, women seem to be encouraged less to take the financial risks that men do in order to become MPs, and to spend any money that they have – or incur a big loss of earnings – on their family rather than career.

Philip Davies, who sits on the Committee, pointed out that gender balance might be masking another diversity problem which is that ‘Rupert’ the banker might be replaced by ‘Jemima’ the banker, and no working class candidates, whether male or female, were getting a look in. This is certainly the case, given the cost of standing.

The parties could help a great deal by having a properly-funded bursary system for their candidates, but this still wouldn’t affect the problem of who is actually coming forward to become a candidate in the first place.

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