Half of voters will not have the option of voting for a woman
by Jess McCabe // 27 April 2005, 11:28
Just under half of voters in next weeks general election will be denied the opportunity to vote for a woman, the Fawcett Society said today.
None of the parties are doing that well, then, but Labour seems to do the best:
Conservatives - only 12% of its candidates in its most winnable seats are women
Lib Dems - only 34% of its candidates in winnable seats are women
Labour - 64% of candidates in winnable seats are women
This means that if no seats changed hands, there would still be 19 more female Labour MPs, while the Lib Dems and the Tories would have less women in the House of Commons. This is down to Labour's use of all-women shortlists.
Dr Katherine Rake, Director of the Fawcett Society, said in a press release: "Increasing the proportion of women in parliament should not depend, as it currently does, on the electoral fortunes of one party It is the responsibility of all parties to play a part."
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