2008: Women and the Vote - 30 June 2008
The coalition celebrates 80 years of universal suffrage
On 2 July 2008,
members of the 2008: Women and the Vote
campaign (1) will celebrate the 80th birthday of women finally winning
equal voting rights as men (2).
With universal
suffrage now eight decades old, the coalition partners are drawing attention to
both the progress and the barriers still faced by women in British politics.
The alliance
has now called on the British, Scottish and Welsh Governments, and political
parties to put gender inequality back to the top of their agendas.
The 2008: Women and the Vote members commented:
Nan Sloane, Director, Centre for Women and Democracy
‘It has
taken us 80 years to achieve 127 women MPs (out of 646), and the quality of our
democracy is the poorer for the lack of women's active participation in it. We
don't want to see another 80 years elapse before our grand-daughters get
anywhere near parity of representation - we think this problem can and should
be solved much more quickly than that, especially since democracies elsewhere
in the world have already managed it.'
Beatrice Barleon, Women's Officer, Electoral Reform Society:
'It is now
80 years since adult men and women won the right to vote on equal terms.
Yet still only 1 in 5 Members of our Parliament are women. Our neighbours
in Scandinavia have managed it. Spain and even Rwanda have pulled it off (5). Now
is the time for Britain
to get serious on equality. This will require some more creative thinking than
we have seen thus far, and must tackle the structural barriers to greater
equality in representation. We have a winner takes all electoral system that
experience has shown favours male incumbents. It's time for a change.'
Karen Dargo, Communications Lead, Engender
Our elected
representatives should reflect the people they seek to serve. Women make up half the population and the
fact that we do not have equal representation in Westminster or Holyrood is a failure of our
democracy to truly represent the interests of all it's people.
Having a
high number of women in the Scottish parliament 1999-2003 was shown to change
the focus of the traditional political agenda and the way politics was carried
out - becoming less adversarial and more consensual. Women MSPs also made an impact on the policy
agenda with for example, substantial progress on action to tackle domestic
violence. Equal representation is good
for democracy and good for women.
Katherine Rake, Director, Fawcett Society
Eighty years ago a key milestone for
women's rights was reached. However, full political equality for women is still
a long way off. The low numbers of women in positions of political power raises
serious questions about how open, meritocratic and relevant to the electorate the
British political system is.
The call to address gender
inequality is not simply a numbers game. It is about governments and political
parties recognising the wider cost to democracy and society when women are not
equally represented. We cannot afford to delay any longer in taking the steps
required to transform the culture of UK politics to achieve a
representative democracy that engages and is relevant to all.
Fiona Booth, Chief Executive,
Hansard Society:
‘This
anniversary is a milestone for how far women have come in the last 80 years but
also highlights how much further we have to go to achieve equal political
representation between the genders. I would like to call on the major political
parties and the House of Commons authorities to work together to encourage more
women to stand for Parliament and make the House a more female friendly place.
We all need to tackle the pervasive
culture of acceptance that means currently only one in five of our MPs are
female. More needs to be done if we don't want to find ourselves in the same
position 80 years from now. A well-established democracy like ours should be
leading the international league tables for female representation, not lagging
behind.'
Alexandra Runswick, Deputy Director,
Unlock Democracy:
This anniversary is a wonderful opportunity to
celebrate how far we have come and to commemorate the trailblazers who got us
to where we are now. Without the suffragists and suffragettes this debate
would still be stuck in the Victorian age. But in marking their
legacy let us invoke their tireless reforming spirit at the same time.
After 80 years only 127 - 1 in 5 MPs are female and only 15
MPs come from a BAME community. One of our greatest challenges remains
ensuring our elected representatives resemble the people in whose name they do
their jobs. Unlock Democracy continues to campaign for a fair and
participatory democracy.
ENDS
Notes to editors:
- Further information about the campaign can be found on www.womenandthevote.com
- On
6th February 1918,
the Representation of the People Act gained royal assent, granting
women over 30 and married women the right to vote. This was followed 10
years later by the Equal Franchise Act (2nd July 1928) which
extended the franchise to all women over 21.
- Join us at Facebook
2008: Women and the Vote http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=8634882182
- Partners of the 2008: Women and
the Vote campaign
Centre for Women and Democracy
www.cfwd.org.uk
Electoral Reform Society
www.electoral-reform.org.uk
Engender
www.engender.org.uk
The Fawcett Society
www.fawcett.org.uk
The Hansard Society
www.hansardsociety.org.uk
Unlock Democracy
www.unlockdemocracy.org.uk
- Spain has currently 36.6 percent
women in its lower House. Rwanda
has 48.8 percent female Representatives.
- Contacts
Contact Beatrice Barleon at the
Electoral Reform Society on 020 7202 8600 or email press@womenandthevote.com