The Centre for Women and Democracy have launched a new online survey to ask people their opinion about the Speakers Conference recommendation to introduce quotas in order to elect female MP’s. The Speakers Conference ran for most of 2009, to look at the representation of women and black and ethnic minorities in UK politics. Without intervention and continuing at the present rate, it will take another 212 years for numbers of female MP’s to be on a par with men.
One of the Speaker’s Conference recommendation is that: ‘if the political parties do not see an increase in the representation of women in the House of Commons at the 2010 general election, Parliament should give serious consideration to the introduction of prescriptive quotas, ensuring that all parties adopt some form of equality guarantee, in time for the following general election.’
The survey is open until the end of March and will report back in April.
