Conservatives and women in Parliament

To The Times, 1st May 2009, see full letter and comments

Sir, We take issue with your report of April 28. If the Conservatives are elected with an overall majority of just one seat we will have 55 Conservative women MPs, more than a threefold increase over the current number of 17 women MPs. The priority A-list was, when announced by David Cameron in 2005, one of a number of interventions that helped to deliver more than 80 women candidates in winnable constituencies.

Your article makes the point that there is only one female Conservative Member of the European Parliament. The party recognises that this gross under-representation is unacceptable and has taken steps to remedy the situation in the forthcoming European elections. Mr Cameron insisted that when our MEP candidates were selected the woman with the highest number of votes in each region would automatically secure the slot below the sitting MEP on the list.

The results of this intervention will be clear after the European elections. We estimate that seven women will be elected as Conservative MEPs and the number could be even greater. Thus the situation with regard to female Conservative representation in Brussels will be dramatically improved after June 4.

Finally, you state that there are three women on the board of the Conservative Party when there are in fact four. Female board representation in the Conservative Party is a great deal better than it is in the vast majority of British publicly quoted companies.

To dismiss the number of women in the Shadow Cabinet as “just seven” is ludicrous. As you yourselves state, within the current Conservative Parliamentary Party there are only 17 women, almost a quarter of whom are in the Shadow Cabinet.

There have been very real advances made within the party under Mr Cameron’s leadership. There is more to be done, of course, to increase female representation at all levels of public life. The Conservative Party has overhauled its selection procedures and made great strides in the selection of women candidates. We have a greater challenge ahead, and that is to encourage more women to come forward to stand for election.

See full list of signatories, including myself,
Deborah Thomas, Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for Twickenham
 

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