Here’s a great post from Pippa Norris on women in – or rather not in – the Cabinet or Parliament.
Key statistics are as follows:
- Four women sit in the new cabinet (14%)[.] The British cabinet lags far behind many European countries; Spain has 53% women in its Cabinet, while Germany has 37% and France 33%
- Overall 139 female MPs were elected to Westminster (21.5%) – more than one in five of the total members in the House of Commons. This was another steady increase, up from 128 or 19.8% of all members in 2005
- Britain ranks 55th worldwide in the proportion of women in the lower house of parliament
- Despite the gains in numbers at Westminster, in fact Britain’s international ranking slipped 10 places since 2005, because other countries – including many newer democracies – are advancing at a faster pace
I’m deliberately not including the figures about female MPs by each political party, because I don’t want this to be seen a party-political issue. It’s a travesty that affects the whole of the political class, not just parts of it.
This reminds me of the EHRC’s report into gender equality, which noted it would take 200 years for women to be equally represented in Parliament if progress continued at the same pace prior to the 2010 General Election.
Let’s not make it take that long, eh?
(I don’t have the figures to hand for representation of disabled people in parliament, but will post them when I do.)
arbitrary constant 
Unfortunately Parliamentary representation of women is a reflection on business in the modern world. I am from an IT background where until 2008, I had never met another IT Director who was female.
Throughout my entire career it has been constant battle to find women who can inspire me to aim higher and it’s the duty of those who have succeeded to offer themselves as role models to our future generations. Young girls need to aspire to greatness.