Our Parliament is particularly good at representing one group: white, male, middle class MPs.

The House of Commons  failure to represent its people is screamingly obvious when it comes to  women. Here in the UK, just one in five of our MPs is female. And while this figure is slightly better than the world average, we are trailing at the bottom end of the league table for European and established democracies.

The way we vote can and does influence that number of women elected to parliaments.

First-Past-the-Post lets down female candidates with the huge advantages it hands to incumbents, and by affording so few opportunities to break into national politics. It lets down women voters and constituents by limiting their choices and fostering a negative, aggressive political culture.

Our voting system tends to discourage parties from standing women and other under-represented groups. Research shows that under proportional representation, an average of 10% more women are elected.

Women & Politics Newsletter

The Electoral Reform Society produces a monthly update on everything to do with women, politics and elections. It reaches activists in the women's sector, political parties, academics and journalists.

Multimedia

Women in Politics: A Documentary (MP3)

A new radio documentary from the Electoral Reform Society is shedding light on the obstacles facing female parliamentarians.

The documentary, made in association with Women’s Parliamentary Radio, examines the issue at home and abroad. It asks why now, 90 years since women won the right to sit in parliament, that their numbers remain so embarrassingly low.

The Electoral Reform Debate (MP3)

Reformers say that the current voting system of FPTP - First Past the Post - discriminates against women and ethnic minorities in favour of the sitting candidate - overwhelming white males. In this special documentary debate, sponsored by the Electoral Reform Society, WP Radio asked MPs from all parties why they are or are not in favour of electoral reform.

The debate is chaired by Jackie Ashley of the Guardian and BBC. Round the table the MPs are Chris Huhne, Shadow Home Affairs Spokesman for the Liberal Democrats, Caroline Spelman Chairman of the Conservative Party, the Labour MP Stephen Pound and academic Professor Nina Fishman who sits on the Electoral Reform Society Board.

Where no woman has gone before

A map of women in politics

Time for a change

Making politics work for women