Assess the view that women are becoming more actively involved in politics

British MPs are overwhelmingly white and male, and there are a low number of female MPs. After the 2010 General Election, 650 MPs were selected; 505 were male and 145 were female. Females make up 22% of the total members. These include well-known MPs such as Diane Abbott and Dawn Butler, both Labour. In the House of Lords, there are 181 female members and 645 male members. Females also make up 22% of the total members in the House of Lords. These numbers suggest that there is a lack of female participation in the political system.

Women’s representation in local government in England is higher than in Parliament. In 2010, 31% of local authority councillors in England were women. The proportion of female councillors was greatest in London boroughs and metropolitan districts and lowest in shire counties. Since 1918, 366 women have been elected as Members in the House of Commons. This is 7% of all MPs over the period. 220 (60%) of the women have been Labour MPs. Until 1997 women had never comprised more than 10% of all MPs. In fact, until the 1980s the proportion had always been below 5%. The 1997 General Election took the proportion to 18% and it remained similar to this in 2001. The 2005 General Election saw 128 female MPs elected, ten more than in 2001. This rose to 143 female MPs elected in the 2010 General Election, 22.0% of the total numbers of MPs. Currently, 5 of the 23 Cabinet posts (22%) are held by women. This compares to 4 female Cabinet ministers following the May 2010 election and 4 women in Gordon Brown’s Cabinet after the June 2009 reshuffle. There were 8 female ministers in Tony Blair’s final Cabinet. Of 121 Government ministers, including the Cabinet, whips, Lords in waiting and 13 unpaid positions, 20 (17%) are women. Prior to the 2010 General Election, 30% of ministers were women. In 1979 Margaret Thatcher became the first British female Prime Minister. At the same time the 1979 election returned the lowest number of female MPs for nearly thirty years. One other woman held Cabinet office during the time that Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister. This was Baroness Young, who was Lord Privy Seal and Leader of the House of Lords in 1982-83. As of January 2012, a female holds the post of president or prime minister in 19 countries. 8 countries have female presidents: Argentina, Brazil, Costa Rica, Finland, India, Liberia, Lithuania and Switzerland. 11 countries have female prime ministers: Australia, Bangladesh, Denmark, Germany, Iceland, Jamaica, Mali, San Marino, Slovakia, Thailand, and Trinidad & Tobago. These facts, figures and statistics clearly highlight the gender imbalance within the political system. It also shows how women have started to become more actively involved in politics, especially since the election of Thatcher as prime minister.

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There are many reasons why women are under-represented in Parliament, which therefore defers them from becoming actively involved in politics. Childbearing and homemaking responsibilities have traditionally prevented many women from seeking a parliamentary career until their children have become teenagers. Also, parliamentary life tends to be masculine and aggressive. Possible female politicians could find themselves out of place in the atmosphere of the House of Commons, where some members adopt a macho attitude and are obsessed with “scoring points” and hurling abuse. According to the Fawcett Society (the UK's leading campaign for equality between women and men), there are “four Cs” that prevent women from standing for Parliament; culture, childcare, cash and confidence. Culture is the idea that women think Westminster has a “yob culture and male public school attitudes.” Childcare suggests that women find it difficult to arrange childcare during candidate selection and also find it hard to combine family responsibilities with the duties of an MP. Cash argues that women earn less than men which affects their ability to afford accommodation and childcare. The last C, confidence, states that women think it is difficult to compete at candidate selection. While there is some truth to these claims by the Fawcett Society, the Society has been criticised by business groups for comparing average pay for full-time men with average-pay for part-time women to highlight inequality, which is unfair as pay for full-time work is much more likely to be higher than part-time pay . Furthermore, claims about masculine and aggressive politicians are generally in the minority, and women should not feel thrown off because of these claims. Margaret Thatcher is a beacon of hope for female politicians; if Thatcher managed to successfully climb to the top of the political system, other women should be able to, as well as feel comfortable in being able to do so. However, there have been numerous responses from female politicians in the House of Commons that aim to answer why there is a lack of female activity in politics. Tess Kingham, former MP for Gloucester, made the claim that “the whole place is organised for men”, whereas Jenny Jones, former MP for Wolverhampton, argued that there is “rampant laddism”. Dawn Butler, MP for Brent South, revealed that she faced frequent racism from politicians and that an official complaint she filed was stonewalled (refusing to answer questions or by giving evasive replies). These claims back up the idea of the political system being overruled by males, and especially support the Confidence argument made by the Fawcett Society.

To conclude, while women are becoming more active in politics, there are many factors that lead to the gender imbalance within the political system.