15 March 2012: The UK's major political parties have shown open hostility or indifference to the demands for much greater gender equality in the devolved parliaments in Scotland and Wales, a study has concluded.
The Electoral Reform Society (ERS) report accuses all the large parties of allowing the issue of equal representation for women to "fester", undermining the ethos which underpinned their foundation in 1999 to improve equality, accountability and wider democracy.
As a result, both legislatures were at risk of being infected by the "yah boo adversarialism" of Westminster, it warned. In a highly critical analysis, the ERS says that "women's representation in Scotland and Wales is stagnant or in decline from previous highs, [because] hostility to measures to correct the imbalance has been allowed to fester, while the prospects of reinstalling effective guarantees appear less and less likely as they work against male incumbents".
To read the complete news please visit The Guardian.
15 March 2012: The UK's major political parties have shown open hostility or indifference to the demands for much greater gender equality in the devolved parliaments in Scotland and Wales, a study has concluded.
The Electoral Reform Society (ERS) report accuses all the large parties of allowing the issue of equal representation for women to "fester", undermining the ethos which underpinned their foundation in 1999 to improve equality, accountability and wider democracy.
As a result, both legislatures were at risk of being infected by the "yah boo adversarialism" of Westminster, it warned. In a highly critical analysis, the ERS says that "women's representation in Scotland and Wales is stagnant or in decline from previous highs, [because] hostility to measures to correct the imbalance has been allowed to fester, while the prospects of reinstalling effective guarantees appear less and less likely as they work against male incumbents".
To read the complete news please visit The Guardian.