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Last Week’s Elections Results Were By And Large Not Good News For Women’s Representation In The UK

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Last Week’s Elections Results Were By And Large Not Good News For Women’s Representation In The UK

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The number of women in the Scottish Parliament has dipped from 50 to 43 following last week’s election. The Lib Dems still have just 2 women, while the Greens have none, as their group was reduced from seven to two. The Tories however, have made some progress, increasing their number of women to five. Half the Labour Group and one third of the SNP group are women.
The number of women in the Scottish Parliament has dipped from 50 to 43 following last week’s election. The Lib Dems still have just 2 women, while the Greens have none, as their group was reduced from seven to two. The Tories however, have made some progress, increasing their number of women to five. Half the Labour Group and one third of the SNP group are women. In the local council elections, the number of women on Scotland’s council dropped just a handful, though fewer female candidates had been selected than last time round. This means women were just as likely to get elected as men, once they were put on the ballot. Some councils and parties saw a decline, while others saw the number of women increase. Glasgow and Stirling have fewer women, while Edinburgh and Perth have more. Initial analysis shows that Labour has seen a small fall in the proportion of women councillors. Further analysis will reveal more about the impact of the first Scottish STV election. Wales AssemblyThe Welsh Assembly no longer has its world breaking-record of a majority of women, though with 29 women and 31 men, it is very close to gender balance. The Conservatives have only one woman among their 12 AMs, down one. Labour and Plaid Cymru both have a majority of women. English Local Government Analysis of the English local government polls will take some time, but we can reveal there’s been no change in women’s representation in the England’s worst council (Tamworth remains at 10%) or England’s best council (Redcar and Cleveland still has a majority of women at 52%). France Meanwhile across the English Channel Ségolène Royal missed out on her bid to be France’s first female president. Nicholas Sarkozy received 53% of the vote to Royal’s 47% in the second round of the presidential race held on Sunday 6 May. She remains the only woman ever to have reached the 2nd round … but here are no prizes for second place. French voters return to the polls next month for parliamentary elections. The country currently has a first past the post voting system with two rounds, and just 12% women in its national parliament. All in all, not a great month for women’s representation in politics. Full details will be in the next of our monthly email bulletins towards the end of May. Christine McCartney For more information, please visit ERS Website

News

There's been much talk about Ségolène Royal not getting enough support from women voters. It seems that her appeal to women to vote for her as the first woman candidate in presidential elections backfired. Why is that? Is it because women have insufficient experience with female leaders since the overall numbers of women leaders are so low? Or do women set higher standards for women candidates? And what would it take to improve women's solidarity with women?

Tue, 05/08/2007 - 18:57 Permalink

The number of women in the Scottish Parliament has dipped from 50 to 43 following last week’s election. The Lib Dems still have just 2 women, while the Greens have none, as their group was reduced from seven to two. The Tories however, have made some progress, increasing their number of women to five. Half the Labour Group and one third of the SNP group are women.
The number of women in the Scottish Parliament has dipped from 50 to 43 following last week’s election. The Lib Dems still have just 2 women, while the Greens have none, as their group was reduced from seven to two. The Tories however, have made some progress, increasing their number of women to five. Half the Labour Group and one third of the SNP group are women. In the local council elections, the number of women on Scotland’s council dropped just a handful, though fewer female candidates had been selected than last time round. This means women were just as likely to get elected as men, once they were put on the ballot. Some councils and parties saw a decline, while others saw the number of women increase. Glasgow and Stirling have fewer women, while Edinburgh and Perth have more. Initial analysis shows that Labour has seen a small fall in the proportion of women councillors. Further analysis will reveal more about the impact of the first Scottish STV election. Wales AssemblyThe Welsh Assembly no longer has its world breaking-record of a majority of women, though with 29 women and 31 men, it is very close to gender balance. The Conservatives have only one woman among their 12 AMs, down one. Labour and Plaid Cymru both have a majority of women. English Local Government Analysis of the English local government polls will take some time, but we can reveal there’s been no change in women’s representation in the England’s worst council (Tamworth remains at 10%) or England’s best council (Redcar and Cleveland still has a majority of women at 52%). France Meanwhile across the English Channel Ségolène Royal missed out on her bid to be France’s first female president. Nicholas Sarkozy received 53% of the vote to Royal’s 47% in the second round of the presidential race held on Sunday 6 May. She remains the only woman ever to have reached the 2nd round … but here are no prizes for second place. French voters return to the polls next month for parliamentary elections. The country currently has a first past the post voting system with two rounds, and just 12% women in its national parliament. All in all, not a great month for women’s representation in politics. Full details will be in the next of our monthly email bulletins towards the end of May. Christine McCartney For more information, please visit ERS Website

News

There's been much talk about Ségolène Royal not getting enough support from women voters. It seems that her appeal to women to vote for her as the first woman candidate in presidential elections backfired. Why is that? Is it because women have insufficient experience with female leaders since the overall numbers of women leaders are so low? Or do women set higher standards for women candidates? And what would it take to improve women's solidarity with women?

Tue, 05/08/2007 - 18:57 Permalink