United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

The new-look European Parliament includes the youngest person ever to sit as an MEP.

Kira Peter-Hansen, from Denmark, is just 21 and was still studying at university when she was elected.

She told BBC Radio 5 Live's Up All Night "even the interns are at least two years older than me".

A major Holyrood drive has been unveiled aimed at getting more women to become MSPs after numbers stalled in recent years.

More than 400 women from across Scotland are to be invited to a day at the Scottish Parliament aimed at generating interest and tackling the gender imbalance in Scottish and UK politics.

Theresa May has bowed to intense pressure from her own party and named 7 June as the day she will step aside as Conservative leader, drawing her turbulent three-year premiership to a close.

Councils are “behind the times” on women’s representation and will take over three decades to achieve gender balance at current rates, a prominent women’s rights organisation has warned.

The UK Gender Sensitive Parliament Audit, published today, finds that steady progress has been made in increasing the representation of women in both Houses of Parliament, but there are still too many barriers to women standing as MPs or putting themselves forward to the House of Lords Appointments Commission.

LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - A century after Britain’s first election in which women voted and stood for parliament, female activists called on Friday for further reform to achieve equality amid abuse and prejudice.

Despite celebrations to mark 100 years since most women aged over 30 won the right to vote - including unveiling a statue of women’s suffrage activist Emmeline Pankhurst - male lawmakers outnumber women two to one.