• Our work

      Themes

    • Brexit and Parliament
    • Future Parliament
    • Governance of Parliament
    • Making better law
    • Parliaments around the world
    • Parliamentary scrutiny
    • Political engagement
    • Representation
    • publications

    • Publications Home
    • Procedural and constitutional guides
    • Briefings
    • Reports
    • Submissions
    • projects

    • Audit of Political Engagement
    • Mock Elections 2019
    • services

    • Statutory Instrument Tracker®
  • About

      about

      who we are

    • What we do
    • Our history
    • contact

    • Our people
    • Contact us
    • Contacts for the media
    • careers

    • Jobs
    • subscribe

    • Insight Notes newsletter
    • Hansard Society newsletter
  • Blog
  • News
  • Events
  • Journal
  • Scholars
Hansard Society logoHansard Society logo
  • Our work

    • Themes

      • Brexit and Parliament
      • Future Parliament
      • Governance of Parliament
      • Making better law
      • Parliaments around the world
      • Parliamentary scrutiny
      • Political engagement
      • Representation
    • publications

      • Publications Home
      • Procedural and constitutional guides
      • Briefings
      • Reports
      • Submissions

      projects

      • Audit of Political Engagement
      • Mock Elections 2019

      services

      • Statutory Instrument Tracker®
  • About

    • about

        who we are

      • What we do
      • Our history
      • contact

      • Our people
      • Contact us
      • Contacts for the media
      • careers

      • Jobs
      • subscribe

      • Insight Notes newsletter
      • Hansard Society newsletter
      • Join our newsletter

        Get the latest updates on our research and events, together with expert comment and analysis, delivered to your inbox each month.

        You can unsubscribe at any time. Read our privacy policy here.

        Thank you!

        You have been successfully added to our newsletter list.

        Follow us

        :( Oops! Something went wrong...

        Please reload the page and try again.

        Insight Notes

        Subscribe to our regular Insight Notes on parliamentary data, procedures and the legislative process at Westminster, including updates on Brexit Statutory Instruments - in your inbox every sitting Monday afternoon.

        You can unsubscribe at any time. Read our privacy policy here.

        Thank you!

        You have been successfully added to our Insight Notes email list.

        Follow us

        :( Oops! Something went wrong...

        Please reload the page and try again.

      Follow us

  • Blog

    Blog

    • blog

      • Despatch Box Blog
  • News

    News

    • news

      • News Home
  • Events

    Events

    • events

      • Events
  • Journal

    Journal

    • journal

      • Parliamentary Affairs
  • Scholars

    Scholars

    Harriet Harman speaker to new Members of Parliament
    publications / reports / 2012

    Women at the Top: Follow-up reports (1996-2012)

    Share this

    Four reports published by the Hansard Society between 1996 and 2012 followed up the 1990 report of the Hansard Society Commission on Women at the Top. The follow-up reports presented updated data on women’s representation in politics and other fields, reviewed progress on the Commission’s original recommendations, and made proposals for further reforms.

    Cover image for Women at the Top: Politics and public life in the UK (2012)

    Download the 2012 report

    Download

    The Hansard Society Commission on Women at the Top reported in 1990.

    We published four follow-up reports, respectively six, 10, 15 and 22 years after the Commission reported.

    Our first follow-up report, by Professor Susan McRae and published in March 1996 (not available electronically), and our 2000 report, Cracking the public sector glass ceiling, by Karen Ross, investigated the extent to which representation of women at senior levels had advanced since the Commission reported, and the extent to which the Commission’s recommendations had been implemented. Presenting updated data, both reports found that women’s representation had increased in many areas but that attitudes impeding women’s progress at senior levels often remained stubborn.

    Our 2005 follow-up report, Changing Numbers, Changing Politics?, by Dr Sarah Childs, Professor Joni Lovenduski and Dr Rosie Campbell, focused on women’s representation in the political sphere, examining practices and outcomes through the lens of the 2005 general election in particular. As well as presenting updated data on women’s representation in electoral politics and Parliament, this report extended the analysis to consider the substantive effects of women’s increased political presence. The report made wide-ranging recommendations to parties, government and Parliament on ways of encouraging greater political representation of women. The report also included a section comparing women’s political representation internationally, and featured an Afterword by Meg Munn MP, then-Deputy Minister for Women and Equality.

    Our 2012 report, Politics and public life in the UK, presented updated data on women’s political representation, taking into account not only the effects of the 2010 UK general election at Westminster but also the situation in the devolved legislatures and national and local government.

    The 2012 report was also able to take account of the 2008-2010 Speaker’s Conference on Parliamentary Representation, the establishment of which had been a recommendation of the original Hansard Society Commission report in 1990. However, in 2012 our report noted that at that time “most of the Speaker’s Conference report” had still to be acted on.


    Banner image: ‘Leader of the Opposition speaks to new Members’, by UK Parliament.


    Enjoy reading this? Please consider sharing it

    Featured

    Cover image for The Report on The Hansard Society Commission on Women at the Top
    publica… / reports / 1990

    The Report of The Hansard Society Commission on Women at the Top

    Related

    'First virtual PMQs and Ministerial statement on Coronavirus', © UK Parliament / Jessica Taylor.
    blog / 04.12.20

    Why the exclusion of pregnant MPs from the House of Commons during Covid-19 matters – for them and for others

    Covent Garden Market, Westminster election, 1 Jully 1808 (designed and etched by Thomas Rowlandson), This print records temporary wooden stands erected outside St.Paul's Church in Covent Garden Market to allow politicians running for Parliament in the Westminster election to address voters. On this occasion a large crowd has gathered, carrying banners and spilling out into the square, with some figures perched on a roof at right to listen to a speaker. (Source: The Metropolitan Museum of Art)
    blog / 13.11.20

    Controverted elections: how disputed results used to be part and parcel of English political and parliamentary life

    Cover image for the Parliamentary Affairs journal
    journal

    Parliamentary Affairs (vol 73, issue 3, 2020)

    Cover image for the Parliamentary Affairs journal
    journal

    Parliamentary Affairs (vol 73, issue 1, 2020)

    The House of Commons debating the Withdrawal Agreement during the Saturday-sitting on 19 October, 2019
    news / articles

    Even with a majority, getting Brexit done on deadline will be no mean feat

    People walking over Westminster Bridge towards the Palace of Westminster, Houses of Parliament
    projects

    Audit of Political Engagement

    People walking over Westminster Bridge towards the Palace of Westminster, Houses of Parliament
    publica… / reports / 2019

    Audit of Political Engagement 16

    Audit 15 cover
    publica… / reports / 2018

    Audit of Political Engagement 15

    Join our newsletter

    Get the latest updates on our research and events, together with expert comment and analysis, delivered to your inbox each month.

    You can unsubscribe at any time. Read our privacy policy here.

    Thank you!

    You have been successfully added to our newsletter list.

    Follow us

    :( Oops! Something went wrong...

    Please reload the page and try again.

    Top three

    Boris Johnson and Keir Starmer in a socially distanced House of Commons chamber, 23 September 2020. ©UK Parliament / Jessica Taylor
    publica… / briefings / 2020

    Expediting of the European Union (Future Relationship) Bill through Parliament: five issues

    EU and UK flags in front of Big Ben, Houses of Parliament, Westminster
    blog / 29.12.20

    Parliament’s role in scrutinising the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement is a farce

    Coronavirus medical animation
    publica… / data / 2020

    Coronavirus Statutory Instruments Dashboard

    Latest

    EU flag missing a star, symbolising Brexit
    blog / 22.01.21

    Brexit and Beyond: Delegated Legislation

    The end of the transition period is likely to expose even more fully the scope of the policy-making that the government can carry out via Statutory Instruments, as it uses its new powers to develop post-Brexit law. However, there are few signs yet of a wish to reform delegated legislation scrutiny, on the part of government or the necessary coalition of MPs.

    Brexit and Beyond: Delegated Legislation
    EU and UK flags in front of Big Ben, Houses of Parliament, Westminster
    blog / 29.12.20

    Parliament’s role in scrutinising the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement is a farce

    Parliament’s role around the end of the Brexit transition and conclusion of the EU future relationship treaty is a constitutional failure to properly scrutinise the executive and the law. As the UK moves to do things differently after 1 January, MPs must do more to ensure they can better discharge their responsibilities regarding the making of UK treaties.

    Parliament’s role in scrutinising the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement is a farce
    Boris Johnson and Keir Starmer in a socially distanced House of Commons chamber, 23 September 2020. ©UK Parliament / Jessica Taylor
    publications / briefings / 2020

    Expediting of the European Union (Future Relationship) Bill through Parliament: five issues

    The EU (Future Relationship) Bill is to be considered by both Houses in just one sitting day. How unusual is such an expedited timetable and how much time will parliamentarians really have to look at the Bill? How will MPs participate in proceedings given Covid-19 restrictions? And how will proceedings, particularly the amendment process, work on the day?

    Expediting of the European Union (Future Relationship) Bill through Parliament: five issues
    'First virtual PMQs and Ministerial statement on Coronavirus', © UK Parliament / Jessica Taylor.
    blog / 04.12.20

    Why the exclusion of pregnant MPs from the House of Commons during Covid-19 matters – for them and for others

    The debate about remote participation in House of Commons proceedings raises critical questions about what constitutes a ‘good parliamentarian’, what ‘fair’ participation looks like, and who gets to decide. As things stand, the exclusion from much parliamentary business of pregnant women, among others, undermines equality of political representation.

    Why the exclusion of pregnant MPs from the House of Commons during Covid-19 matters – for them and for others
    blog / 04.12.20

    Reviewing Restoration and Renewal and planning for a post-pandemic Parliament

    The Coronavirus pandemic has added to the questions surrounding the nature of the Parliament that should emerge from the Palace of Westminster Restoration and Renewal programme. But, with concerns over the programme’s governance and public engagement rising, the report arising from the current review of the programme will not now be published this year.

    Reviewing Restoration and Renewal and planning for a post-pandemic Parliament
    Covent Garden Market, Westminster election, 1 Jully 1808 (designed and etched by Thomas Rowlandson), This print records temporary wooden stands erected outside St.Paul's Church in Covent Garden Market to allow politicians running for Parliament in the Westminster election to address voters. On this occasion a large crowd has gathered, carrying banners and spilling out into the square, with some figures perched on a roof at right to listen to a speaker. (Source: The Metropolitan Museum of Art)
    blog / 13.11.20

    Controverted elections: how disputed results used to be part and parcel of English political and parliamentary life

    Disputed parliamentary election results – often taking months to resolve – were a frequent feature of English political culture before the reforms of the 19th century. But how could defeated candidates protest the result of an election, and how were such disputes resolved?

    Controverted elections: how disputed results used to be part and parcel of English political and parliamentary life
    Prev
    Next
    • Recent pages
      • Women at the Top: Follow-up reports (1996-2012)publications / reports
    • Home
    • Contact us
    • What we do
    • Jobs
    • Privacy policy
    • Site map

    Join our newsletter

    Get the latest updates on our research and events, together with expert comment and analysis, delivered to your inbox each month.

    You can unsubscribe at any time. Read our privacy policy here.

    Thank you!

    You have been successfully added to our newsletter list.

    Follow us

    :( Oops! Something went wrong...

    Please reload the page and try again.

    Copyright © 2020 Hansard Society • Charity No: 1091364 • Registration No: 4332105.