How has the National Assembly opened up new opportunities for women in Wales?
Within this assignment I shall firstly look at women's role within society and then I will look at representation of women in the National Assembly for Wales. I will look at how the different parties ensure more women are elected and what role they play in the assembly in both the cabinet and those who are committee chairs.
I will need to use a variety of primary and secondary sources such as policy documents, interviews, books and articles, organizational and statistical information. This will give a wider perspective. Also by using a varied literature and information sources the subject can be analysed from a broader viewpoint. A variety of methods will be used to acquire this information. The interviews will provide first hand information, the internet is an up to date source, and newspapers will provide details of current issues and opinion. Books provide in depth specific information that is extremely relevant to the investigation.
The National Assembly for Wales was established by an Act of Parliament following the approval of the Government's proposals in the September 1997 referendum. The first elections were held on May 6th 1999 and the Assembly took on its full responsibilities on July 1st 1999. This marked the biggest change in the governing of Wales since the creation of the Welsh office in 1964.
The creation of the National Assembly was also significant because it introduced a new election system. The traditional method of electing members of the House of Commons is "First Past The Post" but many people argue that proportional representation is a much fairer method. The Assembly elections were a mixture of both - there are 60 Assembly members for the whole of Wales, forty were elected by the "First Past The Post" system in single member constituencies and the remaining twenty were elected by the "Party List" system. There are four political parties represented in the assembly; Labour which has twenty-eight AMs, the Liberal Democrats which have six, the Conservatives have nine and Plaid Cymru have seventeen.
The Assembly also has been significant in Welsh political life because women AMs represent a significant proportion of elected members in comparison with other political institutions. Women make up over fifty-two percent of the population. However, historically they have not had a large presence within the government or other senior positions. Abercrombie (1996) states that "while women now have the same formal political and legal rights as men, there remains a striking absence of women from positions of public power and authority" and "very few sit as judges or on the boards of industries, chief constables or senior military positions." For many years it has been believed that women are actually impeded form reaching senior positions by the "glass ceiling" that is actually "constructed by informal exclusionary practices" (Abercrombie, pg221).
Within this assignment I shall firstly look at women's role within society and then I will look at representation of women in the National Assembly for Wales. I will look at how the different parties ensure more women are elected and what role they play in the assembly in both the cabinet and those who are committee chairs.
I will need to use a variety of primary and secondary sources such as policy documents, interviews, books and articles, organizational and statistical information. This will give a wider perspective. Also by using a varied literature and information sources the subject can be analysed from a broader viewpoint. A variety of methods will be used to acquire this information. The interviews will provide first hand information, the internet is an up to date source, and newspapers will provide details of current issues and opinion. Books provide in depth specific information that is extremely relevant to the investigation.
The National Assembly for Wales was established by an Act of Parliament following the approval of the Government's proposals in the September 1997 referendum. The first elections were held on May 6th 1999 and the Assembly took on its full responsibilities on July 1st 1999. This marked the biggest change in the governing of Wales since the creation of the Welsh office in 1964.
The creation of the National Assembly was also significant because it introduced a new election system. The traditional method of electing members of the House of Commons is "First Past The Post" but many people argue that proportional representation is a much fairer method. The Assembly elections were a mixture of both - there are 60 Assembly members for the whole of Wales, forty were elected by the "First Past The Post" system in single member constituencies and the remaining twenty were elected by the "Party List" system. There are four political parties represented in the assembly; Labour which has twenty-eight AMs, the Liberal Democrats which have six, the Conservatives have nine and Plaid Cymru have seventeen.
The Assembly also has been significant in Welsh political life because women AMs represent a significant proportion of elected members in comparison with other political institutions. Women make up over fifty-two percent of the population. However, historically they have not had a large presence within the government or other senior positions. Abercrombie (1996) states that "while women now have the same formal political and legal rights as men, there remains a striking absence of women from positions of public power and authority" and "very few sit as judges or on the boards of industries, chief constables or senior military positions." For many years it has been believed that women are actually impeded form reaching senior positions by the "glass ceiling" that is actually "constructed by informal exclusionary practices" (Abercrombie, pg221).
