Nearly half of women in Britain (47%) feel they are
under-represented in politics, according to a new poll by Kantar,
and this alienation may be reducing women's political
participation, with less than a third (30%) saying they take an
interest in politics, compared with around half of men (47%).
Key Numbers
- 44% of women think Britain would be a better place if they were better represented
- 68% of women believe politicians are more concerned about furthering their careers, than doing the right thing
When David Cameron first formed his government women held 5 out
of 29 cabinet posts. The September reshuffle has seen that fall to
4, far behind Cameron's earlier pledge to have women occupy a third
of cabinet positions. In contrast other European nations, such as
France, legislate to ensure top-level politics is more reflective
of the general population.
Addressing this issue is important for women, with 44% saying
Britain would be a better place to live if they were better
represented in the corridors of power. Over half of women
questioned agree that politicians do not "represent people like me"
(60%) and 68% believe politicians are more concerned about
furthering their careers than doing the right thing for the people
of Britain.
We know that women are underrepresented at every level of
British politics, particularly at the top. What is unknown is the
true cost of this underrepresentation in terms of lost talent and
wider disengagement. There is a danger that the status-quo has
become self perpetuating with women disengaged from a political
system that fails to represent them, in turn fuelling a shortage of
the talented female politicians needed to correct the imbalance. If
the system proves unable to correct itself naturally, it may be
time to consider legislation to boost female representation at all
levels.