Report finds shocking absence of women from UK public life

Source: Observer

Report finds shocking absence of women from UK public life

The number of women in senior levels of the judiciary, education, the arts, finance, the civil service and government is plummeting, according to a new report, Sex and Power 2013. Women's representation has gone into reverse, with damaging effects on our country's social, cultural and political life
• Women losing ground in positions of power, finds report

Yvonne Roberts
The Observer, Saturday 23 February 2013

The advancement of women in the senior ranks of politics – which was evident only a few years ago when Gordon Brown had eight female cabinet ministers and there were 31 women in government – has gone into reverse, with Britain rapidly falling down the international league tables for female democratic representation.

The country fell 37 places through the noughties, from 33rd place in 2001, to joint 60th in 2010. In western governments, only Ireland and Italy had fewer female representatives in 2010.

The evidence of the shocking erasure of women from public life – including at senior levels in the judiciary, education, the arts, finance, the civil service, the City, media and government – is presented in Sex and Power 2013: Who Runs Britain?, to be published tomorrow. The report is compiled by Counting Women In, a coalition of five organisations including the Fawcett Society and the Hansard Society.

The group was created after the 2010 general election, in which female candidates were scarce. The Sex and Power report, the first in an annual series, is modelled on the audits of public life that were published by the now defunct Equal Opportunities Commission.


Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2013/feb/24/shocking-absence-women-uk-public-life