Frances Scott
Founder and Director of 50:50 ParliamentAs we head into, likely, a general election year, Frances Scott, founder and Director of 50:50 Parliament, speaks to Chamber about #AskHerToStand.
When Frances Scott started 50:50 back in 2013, only 23 per cent of MPs were women. Now, women occupy 76 more seats in the Commons, bringing the percentage up to 34 per cent.
The 21 November 2023 marked #AskHerToStand Day. 50:50 call upon everyone to encourage women to stand for elected office at either a local or national level. A major recruitment drive surrounding #AskHerToStand Day in 2022 saw 208 women clicking on #SignUpToStand around this date.
50:50 Parliament is a charity working across the political spectrum to build a better, more inclusive democracy. Three thousand women have now signed up to stand, and our friendly network is working with all the parties to help these women progress in politics.
If the UK is to be considered a truly modern representative democracy, we need more women in the corridors of power. Currently, although women are a majority in life, they are a minority in most elected bodies throughout the country. At Westminster and on most local councils, there are still two times more men than women. This is not only a democratic deficit, but also a democratic disgrace. In the 2019 General Election, of the 650 seats in the Commons, 220 were won by women, with only 12 more women being elected than in 2017. At this rate, it will take until 2060 for women to gain rightful representation. I will be dead, and my children will be old.
Challenging the status quo
#AskHerToStand Day marks the Qualification of Women Act, which was passed on 21 November 1918. At 27 words, it is the shortest UK statute but is still a very significant piece of legislation for the 51 per cent of the population who are women. For the first time ever, it gave women over 21 the right to stand for election as a member of parliament, meaning that they could finally participate in politics – not quite on equal terms with men, but almost. A strange anomaly was that although women could stand for election aged 21, in order to vote in an election, they had to be aged 30 and meet some minimum property regulations. It was not until 1928 that all women over 21 were able to vote and could really be involved in our democracy on the same basis as men.
It is a sad fact that although the concept of democracy has been around for over 2000 years, women have not been included. To quote Manon Tremblay “Historically, the very design of democracy and representation excluded women. In ancient Greece, the cradle of the democratic experiment, democracy was rigorously exclusive: the citizen was male and born of Athenian parents. Theorists of the social contract and popular sovereignty [from 1558-1778]… at best, ignored women, and at worst, endorsed their confinement to the private and family spheres.”
The UK became a democracy with the passing of the First Reform Act in 1832, which extended the vote to seven per cent of men and redistributed house seats for better representation, but women’s participation was not even considered.
Parliament and politics have always been a male domain and systems that evolved favoured men. Women were expected to keep the home fires burning while male representatives spent time away engaging in debate and enjoying the delights of Westminster, along with all the privileges that were part of a normal way of life for an influential man.
Although women have had the legislative right to stand for 105 years, it has been hard for them to break into the system. The statistics reveal the sexism; since 1918, nearly 6000 MPs have been elected but fewer than 600 have been women. The lack of women in government is damaging for our daughters and for our sons. Men and women, women and men, should forge the future together in equal numbers.
Representation shapes policy; building a better future and protecting the planet are a joint endeavour. There is plenty of evidence that diversity leads to better decision making and as Professor Joni Lovenduski explained at the Speaker conference in 2012, “Evidence from more balanced legislatures than ours shows that as membership of women increases, so does the sensitivity of male MPs to the range of women’s concerns. So, men can act for women, but they may be more likely to do so when there are more women around.”
A continuous fight
50:50 launched the #AskHerToStand Day in parliament in 2016. We had the support of MPs, men and women from across the political spectrum who recognised that more needs to be done to support and encourage women to take the plunge into politics. The event was hosted and chaired by Jess Phillips MP(Labour), with panel members including Justine Greening MP (Conservative), then Secretary of State for Education and Minister for Women and Equalities; Caroline Lucas MP, Joint Leader of the Green Party; Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh MP (SNP); Tom Brake MP (Liberal Democrats); Will Quince MP (Conservative); Chris Elmore MP (Labour); and Stuart Donaldson MP (SNP). In addition, Sophie Walker (Leader of the Women’s Equality Party) and Marylyn Haines Evans (Chair of Public Affairs at the Women’s Institute) were also on the panel to show support for the campaign.
Every year since then, 50:50 have celebrated #AskHerToStand Day, with support from the Prime Minister and all party leaders, as well as many others, including Helen Pankhurst, the great granddaughter of the suffragette leader, who said, “Women’s fight for political equality is still on and we all need to work together for women to have rightful representation…We know that if women are asked and then encouraged to stand, many will start the journey to becoming a candidate. It may take a few times of asking but it’s worth it!”
There is evidence that women do need more encouragement to put themselves forward. The reasons for this are many and varied but the reality cannot be ignored. So, if we are to create a pipeline of talented women going for selection and on to elected office, we need to keep asking them. Parliament is slowly moving to become a more modern and inclusive workplace. One important development has been changes to the support given to MPs with caregiving responsibilities. Proxy voting is now possible for MPs on parental leave, meaning that MPs who have new-born or newly adopted children can still participate in parliamentary votes.
In November 2019, Stella Creasy became the first MP to appoint a locum for her maternity cover. She has continued to campaign for MPs on parental leave to have all their duties in parliament covered during their absence, as is now the case for government ministers, according to the Ministerial and Other Maternity Allowances Act 2021.
There have been other changes, in 2005 and 2012, to the House of Commons sitting hours. In the 1980s and 1990s, over 25 per cent of sitting days would extend beyond midnight, but in the year following the 2017 Election, this only happened three times. This makes working in parliament easier for those with caregiving responsibilities.
Empowering women in politics
Asking women to stand works both at a national and local level as many of these fantastic women at Westminster say that being asked to stand is what put them on the path, such as Gillian Keegan MP and Sarah Olney MP. The quotes from women who are part of the 50:50 network show the power of #AskHerToStand: “It was literally #AskHerToStand that gave me the push to become a parliamentary candidate. The encouragement and support have been overwhelming.”
Anna Day, a Labour candidate who went on to be elected as Councillor for Slade Green and Northend on 5 May 2022.
“50:50 inspired me through their unrelenting work to ensure that women are represented at the table where policies and strategies are devised.” Shade Adoh, a Conservative candidate elected as Councillor for Buckinghamshire on 6 May 2021
“Why am I standing for #GE2019 for the first time ever? Because I was inspired by 50:50 Parliament and their #AskHerToStand event in Cambridge. Thank you!” Pippa Heylings, a Lib Dem candidate elected as Councillor for South Cambridgeshire on 3 May 2018.
“I was encouraged to stand in this [Scottish] election by a male politician in my party who has been such a huge source of support to me. Without his encouragement…I don’t think I would have made the big leap.” Fatima Joji, an SNP candidate elected as Councillor for Aberdeenshire on 5 May 2022.
So, our rallying cry on 21 November was to #AskHerToStand because together we can inspire women and build a better, more inclusive and representative democracy. Click here to #SignUpToStand.
