See also special areas
At a glance
Structure of Parliament: Bicameral
Are there legislated quotas...
- No for the Single/Lower House?
- No for the Upper House?
- No at the Sub-national level?
Are there voluntary quotas...
- Yes adopted by political parties?
United Kingdom
(United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland)
Single/Lower house
House of Commons
| Total seats: | 650 |
| Total women: | 143 |
| % women: | 22% |
| Election year: | 2010 |
| Electoral system: | FPTP |
| Quota type: | Voluntary Political Party Quotas |
| Election details: |
IDEA Voter Turnout
IPU Parline |
Sources | Additional information | Contact us
Last updated 2010-07-08
Voluntary Political Party Quotas*
| Party | Acronym | Official Name | Details, Quota provisions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Liberal Democrats | In 2001 the Liberal Democrats adopted a 40 percent target of women candidates, and at the same time rejected all-women shortlists. Prior to the 2005 elections, the party placed women in 40 percentof the "winnable seats". The Liberal Democrats implemented a "zipping" system on their candidate lists for the European election in 1999 which were conducted using List-PR, but did not use the zipping system in the European Parliament election of 2002. | ||
| Labour Party | The Labour Party's introduction of all-female shortlists for 50 percent of vacant and winnable seats (1992) was overturned by an Industrial Tribunal in January 1996, which ruled in favor of rejected male candidates that the policy was against the "Sex Discrimination Act" of 1975. For the 1997 General Election the Labour Party ring-fenced 50 percent of their winnable seats for female candidate-only shortlists. Subsequent to the 2001 General Election, the Parliament passed the Sex Discrimination (Election Candidates) Act , which allows political parties to use positive action to get more women into elected positions, should they wish to do so, without infringing employment law. This would allow the Labour Party to return to its pre-1996 policy. In the 2005 elections Labour reintroduced all-women shortlists in 30 "safe" constituencies, i.e. seats the party expected to win, but not all of these were won. For the first elections to the Scottish Parliament and National Assembly for Wales in 1999, the Labour Party used a system of selecting their candidates by "twinning" neighbouring seats. The "winnability" of the seats was taken into account, so that each pair would select one man and one woman. Under this twinning system, the members of the two constituencies come together for the purposes of selecting candidates. Party members have two votes - one for a woman and one for a man. The man and woman with the most votes is selected. |
* Only political parties represented in parliament are included. In case of legislated quotas, only political parties that have quotas beyond the national quota legislation are presented in this table.
Sources | Additional information | Contact us
Last updated 2009-11-30
