The Centre for Women & Democracy (CFWD) has released a comparison of the main political parties and the percentage of female candidates they are fielding – and the comparison reveals that the Green Party is ahead of all the rest with 33% of its candidates being women. Labour comes second with 30%, followed by the Conservatives with 24%. The Liberal Democrats have the lowest proportion of women candidates of any major party, with 21% (1).
CFWD has also predicted that the percentage of women in the next parliament will not reach 25 per cent (2). In the last parliament it was 19.5 per cent, lower than Afghanistan, Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates.
Caroline Lucas, the Green Party’s leader, is running for parliament in Brighton Pavilion, where she is tipped by pollsters and bookies to become the MP (3). This would make her the only current female leader of a political party in Westminster. In total the Green Party is fielding 335 candidates in the 2010 general election, a UK record.
Speaking from the campaign trail in Brighton Pavilion today, mum of two Caroline Lucas said:
"I'm delighted that the Green Party has the highest percentage of women candidates, but I'm not surprised. We are committed to real gender equality, and have the strongest equality policies of any party, including ensuring that 40 per cent of board members are women, encouraging more women to get involved with politics and closing the disgraceful pay gap that still exists between men and women doing the same job.
"I'm pleased that in Brighton Pavilion where I am standing, voters are guaranteed a woman as their next MP. We have come a long way in Britain, but we still have a long way to go. If I am fortunate enough to become the MP, I will fight hard to make it easier for more women to get elected to parliament."
Caroline has previously campaigned for the Fawcett Society over Equal Pay.
Notes
1, 2. Please see: http://www.cfwd.org.uk/uploads/pdfs/WomenCandidatesApril2010.pdf.
3. Recent polls from YouGov (October 2009) and ICM (December 2009) suggested a Green Party win in Brighton Pavilion. Bookmakers Ladbrokes, Paddy Power and William Hill, as well as leading UK online betting site Betfair, all have Caroline Lucas as favourite to win the Brighton Pavilion election.