Representation in public life
Women, people from minority ethnic
backgrounds, disabled people and Lesbian, Gay Bisexual and
Transgender people are under-represented in senior and
decision-making positions in politics and across the public,
private and voluntary sectors. For example:
- Following the General Election in May 2010, 143 women
MPs were elected out of a total of 650 MPs (22%) [1]
[2].
- 26 MPs (of which 8 are women) are from a
Black, Asian and minority ethnic background [3] (4% compared to
7.9% of the UK population [4]).
- There are 2 out lesbian MPs and an estimate of about 15 out
male gay MPs (2% compared to estimates that 6% of the population
are gay, bisexual or lesbian [5]). The majority of lesbian and gay
people expect to experience discrimination if they seek selection
by a political party to run for parliament[6].
- There is no accurate data on the number of MPs by ethnicity,
disability, sexual orientation or transgender status (see footnote
2).
- The 2008 Councillor Census found 30.8% of local councillors
were women; 3.4% of councillors were from ethnic minority
backgrounds (of which 0.8% were ethnic minority women) and 13% had
a long-term illness or disability [7].
- In March 2009, 32.6% of public appointments were held by women,
6.9% by ethnic minority people and 3.5% by disabled people[8].
- Levels of civic engagement[9] vary: ethnic minority groups,
disabled people and young people are under-represented. The gap
between the proportion of ethnic minority people and young people
involved in civic engagement compared with the general population
has increased since 2005. For disabled people it has
decreased.
- The majority of people believe that it is important whether men
and women are equally represented in government and on the senior
management teams in companies (73% and 81% respectively)[10].
Speaker’s Conference
On 12 November 2008, the House of Commons
agreed to establish a Speaker's Conference. This enquiry considered
and made recommendations on how to improve representation of women,
disabled, and minority ethnic people in the House of Commons, so
that it better reflects society. The Speaker’s Conference’s final
report was published on 11 January 2010. The Government published
its response to the report recommendations on 10th March.
Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) Women Councillors
Taskforce
Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) women
are still under-represented in the democratic life of this
country. At the time the taskforce was set up we had
only two women MPs from minority ethnic communities, (risen to 8
MPs with recent 2010 Elections). BAME women account for less
than one per cent of England's 20,000 Councillors while they
make up more than 5 per cent of the population[11]. To create
a more representative picture the number of BAME women councillors
needs to increase more than five-fold – from just 149 to
nearer a thousand.
A cross party BAME Women Councillors' Taskforce
was established in May 2008 and ran to July 2009 to help make
local councils more representative of the community.
Members were women from a wide range of backgrounds and
experience from every region in England and from Scotland and
Wales.
The Taskforce explored and developed practical
ways to encourage BAME women to become councillors and
champions of their communities.
The Taskforce worked closely with partner
organisations such as the Local Government Association, Operation
Black Vote, the Fawcett Society, including the political parties to
promote and deliver its objectives as well as a series of
events around the country to attract and engage women (for a
full list of partners, view our
Taskforce Partners and Useful Links page).
Operation Black Vote in partnership with the
Taskforce, developed a mentoring scheme funded by
the Government Equalities Office to demystify the functions of
local government. The programme provided tailored support to
BAME women taking the first steps to become active in political
life, and ran from October 2009 to March 2010. In addition to this
work, BAME women were given the opportunity to gain a
Certificate in Community Leadership. The
course was delivered by SOLACE.
A total of 60 women were selected nationally
for the mentoring scheme. In the recent 2010 local and
national elections, 8 of these women stood as councillor candidates
and 1 stood as a Prospective Parliamentary Candidate. 4 were
successfully elected as local councillors (1 Conservative, 1 Labour
and 2 Liberal Democrats).
An evaluation report on the overall Taskforce
programme which will cover both the mentoring and the leadership
course will be published in Summer 2010.
We want to work closely with the political
parties in supporting potential candidates and we will continue to
track and monitor the numbers of BAME women who are put forward for
selection, publishing the success rates and celebrating
achievements. Click here for a link to
Useful Political Contacts.
Vitally important to encouraging women to see
themselves as community champions is the promotion of positive role
models. Taskforce members have agreed to be ambassadors
and will continue to support this work.
Diversity in Public Appointments
There are around 12,500 appointments made to
the boards of UK public bodies. As at 31st March 2009[12]:
- women held just under a third (32.6%, down from 33.3% in 2008)
of public appointments, despite making up half the population.
- 6.9% of public appointments were held by members of minority
ethnic groups. Of these, around 38% were women.
- 3.5% of public appointments were held by disabled people.
Of these, around 37% were women.
The Government Equalities Office has 180
Ambassadors who play a vital role in sharing their experiences and
story to really help others build the confidence and self-belief
they need to apply successfully for a position on public
boards.
The public appointments
website [link to www.direct.gov/publicappointments]
provides a single source of information about public appointments
vacancies at national, regional, and local levels across England
and the UK. You can search the site by area of interest, government
department and by location to identify the vacancies of most
interest to you.
Downloads & related links:
Public Appointments Mentoring Schemes sponsored by the
Government Equalities Office
The About Time Public Leaders courses,
sponsored by the Government Equalities Office, are designed to
increase the diversity of public body board members and the pool of
talented individuals ready to take up public appointments. The
schemes were launched in January 2010 and will run until June
(Public Leaders Advanced) and November 2010 (Public Leaders).
To find out more visit: http://abouttime.commonpurpose.org.uk/public-leaders-courses/.
For more information about public appointments generally, or to
find out about current vacancies, please visit: http://www.direct.gov.uk/publicappointments.
[2] N.B. The Houses of Parliament do not keep
official figures on ethnicity, disability, LGB and T. The
figures used here are current estimates from other sources as
indicated.
[3] Guardian 10th May 2010 and
Operation Black Vote website and blog
[4] Office for National Statistics, Census
data 2001
[5] Regulatory Impact Assessment for the Civil
Partnership Act 2004
[6] Dick, S. (2009) Serves You Right: Lesbian
and gay people’s expectations of discrimination. Stonewall.
[7] National Foundation for Educational
Research (2009). National Census of Local Authority Councillors
2008.
[8] Cabinet Office (2010) Public Bodies
2009.
[9] Civic engagement is defined as a citizen
having taken part in at least one of the following activities in
the last 12 months: civic activism, civic participation, civic
consultation or formal volunteering.
[10] Coombs, H. et al (2010) Representation of
women and men in business and government. Government Equalities
Office.
[11] National Foundation for Educational
Research (2009). National Census of Local Authority Councillors
2008
[12] Cabinet Office (2010) Public Bodies
2009.