Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Equality, diversity and inclusionDisabilityLatest NewsEconomics, government & businessRecruitment & retention

Women and ethnic minority quotas could be forced on parliament

by Personnel Today 11 Jan 2010
by Personnel Today 11 Jan 2010

Political parties could be forced to set quotas on the number of women and ethnic minority people they employ, under new proposals to be unveiled today.

A cross-party review by the Speaker’s Conference has concluded that mandatory legal quotas should be set for the number of female parliamentary candidates â€“ if there is not a significant increase in female MPs at the next election â€“ while non-mandatory all-ethnic minority shortlists should also be introduced.

The Speaker’s Conference said parliament was too white, middle-class, heterosexual, male and able-bodied.

The review, commissioned by prime minister Gordon Brown and backed by the speaker John Bercow, called for at least half of the MPs leaving the Commons at this year’s general election to be replaced by women.

The panel of MPs conducting the review claimed democracy was under threat unless parliament became more representative, the Daily Mail has reported.

Despite half of the population being female, only 20% of MPs are women, compared to 47% in Sweden and 38% in Denmark.

All-women shortlists have only ever been used by the Labour Party.

The report said: “If the political parties fail to make significant progress on women’s representation at the 2010 general election, parliament should give serious consideration to the introduction of prescriptive quotas, ensuring all political parties adopt some form of equality guarantee in time for the following general election.

“We recognise equality guarantees do not sit easily within some political party cultures. Yet, to date, the all-women shortlist has been the only mechanism to have produced a significant step-change in representation in the Commons in a short period of time.”

Harriet Harman, Labour’s equality minister, said: “Society has changed and the House needs to change too.

“We should take all the steps we can to increase diversity in parliament, which must reflect the country in which we live and the public we serve.”

But former Conservative minister Ann Widdecombe said: “The concept of merit is going out of the window. I don’t care whether an MP is male or female, black or white, rich or poor, old or young.

Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance

Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday

OptOut
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

“What matters is the merit they bring. We really cannot have targets for particular categories. It’s frankly insulting because it suggests women and ethnic minorities cannot get there on their own merit.”

The Speaker’s Conference was established in November 2008 as a new committee, chaired by the speaker, and tasked with making recommendations for creating a more representative parliament.

Personnel Today

previous post
Unemployed people prey to internet scams and money-launderers
next post
My best and worst decisions: Graham White, HR director, Westminster City Council

You may also like

Personnel Today Awards 2025: Final deadline on Monday

20 Jun 2025

Seven ways to prepare now for the Employment...

20 Jun 2025

Sniff a lemon on World Productivity Day and...

20 Jun 2025

Employees want more upskilling and apprenticeships to narrow...

20 Jun 2025

NHS pay disputes: Who could strike again?

20 Jun 2025

BBC Breakfast bullying and misconduct allegations under investigation

20 Jun 2025

AI company did not racially discriminate against Chinese...

20 Jun 2025

Financial analyst guilty of insider dealing while WFH

20 Jun 2025

Only a third of recruiters receive high-quality job...

20 Jun 2025

UK job market shows signs of resilience

20 Jun 2025

  • AI is here. Your workforce should be ready. SPONSORED | From content creation...Read more
  • Preparing for a new era of workforce planning (webinar) WEBINAR | Employers now face...Read more
  • 2025 Employee Communications Report PROMOTED | HR and leadership...Read more
  • Prioritising performance management: Strategies for success (webinar) WEBINAR | In today’s fast-paced...Read more
  • Retaining Female Talent: Four Ways to Reduce Workplace Drop Out PROMOTED | International Women’s Day...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2025

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2025 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+