Women still shunned

ACTIVISTS: BRITAIN AT 38 OUT OF 193 COUNTRIES WITH FEMALE REPRESENTATION ‘It took a world war for women to get the vote and be able to

Acentury after Britain’s first election in which women voted and stood for parliament, female activists called yesterday for further reform to achieve equality amid abuse and prejudice.

Despite celebrations to mark 100 years since most women over 30 won the right to vote – including unveiling a statue of women’s suffrage activist Emmeline Pankhurst – male lawmakers outnumber women two to one.

“I don’t think we have got far enough, the pace of change has been ludicrously slow,” Helen Pankhurst, great-granddaughter of Emmeline and granddaughter of Sylvia Pankhurst, also a prominent campaigner, said.

“I think they would be saying fabulous that you’re celebrating ... but they’d also be really interested to ask how far we have got and what we still need to do.”

The past year has seen women question why they remain under-represented in public life and senior business positions in a global debate over gender roles after the #MeToo movement.

Britain sits at number 38 out of 193 countries in a league table by the Inter-Parliamentary Union, with women holding 32% of seats in the lower house – far behind Rwanda, Cuba and Bolivia, which have female majorities.

Britain’s December 14, 1918, poll saw the election of the first female lawmaker, Constance Markievicz, though as a member of the Irish republican party Sinn Fein she did not take up her seat.

Women today face gender barriers in politics ranging from a lack of encouragement to stand, through to public abuse and discrimination from male colleagues, experts say.

“Despite all the great celebrations and activity this year, to date it adds up to a missed opportunity to effect lasting change,” said Sam Smethers, head of the Fawcett Society, Britain’s leading women’s rights charity.

“Women’s representation remains stalled, and government has missed the opportunity to act to remove the barriers.”

Smethers backed calls for the government to force political par- ties to reveal how many of their candidates being put forward as potential lawmakers are women in a move that supporters of the scheme say would help to improve diversity.

There is also a campaign to encourage women to put themselves forward for elections and support a pipeline of female talent spearheaded by the group 50:50 Parliament. Its founder, Frances Scott, said the main British parties were taking the issue seriously and she hoped the lower house could be equally split between women and men within a decade. “Change is possible,” Scott said. “It took a world war for women to get the vote and to be able to participate and stand, so maybe it will take Brexit for us all to look at our democracy and realise it should become more inclusive and accessible.”