Nancy Astor, the first female MP, by John Singer Sargent/Wikimedia
The next Parliament looks set to have the highest number of female MPs since women were first allowed to stand for election in 1918.
In a new report, the Electoral Reform Society has projected that 29.5% of MPs will be women following May’s general election. It’s an important advance, but it still falls far short of the parity necessary if the House Commons is to be truly representative of the electorate. After all, it is over 95 years after the Parliament (Qualification of Women) Act was passed, which first allowed women to become MPs. The pace of change has been far too slow.
