SUMMARY

  The National Alliance of Women's Organisations recommends:

— that a full literature review be undertaken so that the considerable body of research that exists particularly on women's underrepresentation in Parliament may inform this enquiry

— the Parliamentary candidate selection process is biased in favour of men, and particularly white able bodied men; action to address this must continue

— the over representation of men in public life in itself acts as a disincentive to girls and young women to consider political activity as a career

— moving away from a first past the post system would increase levels of political engagement

— the absence of women in the House of Commons has led to a bias in the prevailing discourse; inter alia, this means that there is no routine gender analysis of policies and legislation is not scrutinised for its gender impact. Gender budgeting is largely unknown in the UK legislature.

— a public education campaign should be undertaken to address leadership stereotypes which deter women and minority groups from seeking elected office.

INTRODUCTION

  This response is provided by the National Alliance of Women's Organisations which represents women's organisations across England. It focuses on the question of women's underrepresentation in the House of Commons, including ethnic minority, disabled, and other minority women.

  There is now a considerable body of research on women's underrepresentation in Parliamentary democracies, and some of the leading researchers can be found here in the UK. We recommend that a full literature review be undertaken to inform the Conference's work, as the answers to most of the questions posed in this consultation exercise may be found there. We have drawn on this extensive evidence base in our response.

  Research by Anne-Marie Goetz[87] has identified a number of broad social mechanisms that lead to women's underrepresentation across the world:

resource constraints limit women's time for and leverage in politics, and encourage a focus on local issues; gender-based inequalities are often seen as "natural", thereby limiting the legitimacy of gender equity; and women's sexual subordination to men, which undermines the value of their consent or "voice" in politics. The terms of the sexual contract in many societies establish that women's consent may be assumed. Men have no obligation to be accountable to married women for their behaviour in the family and in relation to women's property because women have freely surrendered these rights to men. By consenting to a loss of power and rights, the value of women's consent is undermined and their voice becomes unreliable. This makes them secondary citizens in key political arenas.

  Comparative research by Shaw[88] shows that women in the House of Commons are treated as interlopers and are unable to take advantage of the routine rule breaking that the majority practice. This puts them at a significant disadvantage in acting as our elected representatives. In the same vein, Joni Lovenduski reports in her research[89]

  There was one woman Labour MP who found it off-putting that when she got up to speak, some of the Tories shouted "Melons, Melons". So she went to see the Speaker, who was then Betty Boothroyd, who told her: "Look love, we've all had to go through it. Next time, wait for them to speak and shout out 'Chipolatas, chipolatas'."

  Lovenduski's research, like Shaw's, describes graphically the discriminatory and exclusionary effect of masculine norms and codes of behaviour in the House of Commons.

  The General Election of May 2005 returned 128 women MPs. They represent the Parties as follows:

EFFECTIVE SOLUTIONS

  These facts, and the available research, appear to suggest that the most effective initiatives that lead to an increase in women's representation have been to reduce the discretion available to local party selection committees to demonstrate bias in favour of men. The Labour Party's all women shortlists combined with their electoral success in 1997 led to a considerable boost in the number of women MPs. The Twinning of constituencies and the selection of one man and one woman to each led to the equal representation of women in the Wales Assembly. There is no evidence that the electorate is reluctant to elect women, but there is plenty of evidence that selection committees are biased in favour of selecting men.

  It has been clearly demonstrated that similar biases exist in the labour market and these have only been partially eradicated by making available legal redress. The recent change in electoral law[90] has assisted in as much as it permits measures to improve women's representation to be taken, but has not been widely adopted. The next step should be to require parties to demonstrate they are not biased in favour of one particular group, that is, white, able bodied men. The success of such actions can be measured by a decrease in the overrepresentation of men.

  It is argued that, throughout European parties, women's representation has increased dramatically since quotas were introduced. It is also suggested that the improvements in women's representation in the UK "can to a large extent be traced to the use of 'positive action' measures (commonly known as 'quotas') by certain political parties." It is now fairly common for parties within Europe, especially green parties or those of the left, to adopt some form of quotas policy. Of the 76 parties in European Union states which have 10 or more members in the lower house of the national legislature, 35 (or 46 per cent) use quotas. Amongst these 76 parties, 35 have achieved levels of women's representation above 24 per cent (the Labour Party's record high) and of these 35, 24 (or 69 per cent) have a quotas policy in place. Women's representation remains below 10 per cent in 17 of the parties, of which only one has a quotas policy in place. However, very high representation of women may of course be achieved without quotas, as in the case of Denmark (37.9%).[91]

  Underrepresented groups should be encouraged to stand for election via the provision of training and shadowing opportunities. Limited opportunities are available within the political parties, but this should be widened and provided on a non-party basis for candidates who wish to enter public life either by serving in a public appointment or by election to local or central government.

  It is essential to put in place definite but hopefully short term positive actions: in populations where there are high density minority groups, insist on at least one BME representative on the short list; reintroduce women only short lists and work to ensure BME women among those standing—ditto disabled women; encourage and support disabled people to enter politics. The financing of campaigns should be reconsidered to encourage less affluent sections of the population to stand.

  Overcoming these barriers will involve quite profound cultural shifts, particularly in men's attitudes and behaviour, and requires a public campaign of education and appreciation that demonstrates the nonsense of stereotypes.

Are problems caused by the unbalanced representation in the House of Commons of different groups in society?

  NAWO believes that the answer this question is, unequivocally, yes. The absence of women in the House of Commons has led to a bias in the prevailing discourse away from issues which might be considered domestic or of interest to women in particular. There is no routine gender analysis of policies and legislation is not scrutinised for its gender impact. Gender budgeting is largely unknown in the UK legislature. The absence of women as role models deters girls and young women from considering a career in politics, and reinforces the bias in favour of men in the ranks of parliamentarians. The invisibility of women and their specific needs and interests means that there is little demand for the data produced by the state to be gender disaggregated, and this in turn makes it difficult even if the political will existed to undertake gender analysis or to understand the impact of legislation, fiscal policy etc on women.

  Again, research indicates that gender differences in political engagement vary across democracies according to their electoral institutions.

  Women are less likely to be politically engaged than men but this[ gender] gap is smaller in more proportional electoral systems. Proportional representation electoral rules and gender quotas signal to citizens that inclusiveness is important to the country's democracy. Gender gaps in political engagement are smaller in more proportional electoral systems and in countries with gender quotas.[92]

Is there a relationship between these levels of representation and voter attitudes to Parliament?

  NAWO believes that part of the reason that surveys continue to record high levels of public dissatisfaction with parliament and low levels of trust in parliamentarians is that Parliament is seen as biased in favour of a small and unrepresentative group of white men who are drawn from upper middle class, privately educated backgrounds. This group is demonstrably overrepresented and is perceived to be passing laws which improve their own position rather than the position of the majority of the population or indeed those worse off than themselves.

What are the reasons why more women, people from ethnic minorities and disabled people do not become Members of Parliament?

  The principal barriers are:

  Financial: women and other disadvantaged groups are less likely to have the financial resources to support their entry into public life

  Gender roles: women shoulder a disproportionate burden of unpaid caring for both children and older people, and research shows that they are able to spend less time on voluntary political activity than men. Underlying this practical barrier is the cultural tradition of male leadership and the belief that women are somehow not the "natural" leaders of society and indeed are not the leaders in reality in most if not all social groups.

  Perceived bias: The over representation of men in public life in itself also acts as a disincentive to girls and young women to consider political activity as a career, as it leads to a perception of bias against the entry of women.

  Actual bias: the selection process employed by the main political parties consistently demonstrates bias unless measures are taken specifically to counter this.

88   Sylvia Shaw, "Language and Gender in Political Debates", Chapter 5 in Speaking out: The female voice in public contexts, ed. Judith Baxter, 2006. Back

89   Joni Lovenduski: "How men deter women from Parliament", Inaugural lecture of the Anniversary Professor of Politics at Birkbeck College, University of London, 8 February 2002 Back

90   Sex Discrimination (Election Candidates) Act 2002 Back

91   Gender Quotas in a Comparative Perspective, www.essex.ac.uk/ECPR/standinggroups/women/workingPapers/Gender_Quotas_in_a_Comparative_Perspective_oct2002.pdf Back

92   Gender, Institutions and Political Engagement: A Comparative Perspective Kittilson, Schwindt Bayer, 2008 Back