United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Campaigners demand reform of party selection procedures after last week's elections mostly failed to boost female representation. Equalities campaigners have called for dramatic reform of party selection procedures after the proportion of women elected to the UK's devolved legislatures was one of the lowest on record. Reform groups said the parties had to take positive action to increase the number of women in the Scottish parliament and the Welsh and Northern Irish assemblies, as last week's elections justified their fears there would be no improvement on equal rights. 

Gaffes are prompting female MPs to wonder if some equal opportunities training is in order. Coalition ministers keep on putting their foot in it. Among those facing accusations of sexism we've had David Cameron ("calm down dear"), David Willetts (blaming feminism for the lack of jobs for working men) and then Ken Clarke ("serious" rape). In each instance the government's defence was that they were misunderstood – by accident or design.