Call to reform working hours and procedures to encourage more women into Parliament
PARLIAMENT SHOULD consider overhauling its working hours and procedures to encourage more women to become MPs and peers, an internal inquiry has recommended.
A gender-sensitive audit panel established by the Commons and Lords authorities found while there had been “steady progress” towards increasing female representation at Westminster, more needed to be done.
It identified “barriers” towards women putting themselves forward including the “culture of Parliament”, as highlighted in the recent report by Dame Laura Cox into the bullying and harassment of Commons staff.
The panel – made up of MPs, peers and senior parliamentary staff – pointed to the “challenges” of working at Westminster for family life, with the “unpredictability of business and potential long hours”.
It called for support for women parliamentarians and candidates who were subjected to online threats, threats to their physical security and “gender-based intimidation, harassment and violence”.
It recommended a series of reforms, ranging from the adoption of more family-friendly working hours to changes in the way MPs address each other in the chamber and the ceremonial uniforms worn by House staff.
The report found the number of women MPs had risen from 18 per cent in 1997 to 32 per cent, while the number of women in the House of Lords had gone from seven per cent to 26 per cent over the same period.
At the same time, it highlighted the “extreme seriousness” of the bullying and harassment covered in the Cox Report which required “concrete action” in response rather than “hiding from the problem”.
Meanwhile, a lawyer for Michelle Palmer, the widow of murdered Pc Keith Palmer has backed a call for armed officers to be stationed at all gates into Parliament. Patrick Maguire said it is “imperative” measures are implemented to “keep our cities safe”.
On March 22 last year, Khalid Masood, 52, killed four pedestrians before stabbing PC Palmer to death at the Palace of Westminster.