Where are all the women in the cabinet?

Agree scottishmummy

BUT

if there was a fair representation of women in parliament in the first place, they would eventually filter through into the top jobs

I want parliament and government to mirror society

Absolutely dittany.

Ali you are right - there are four. We should think ourselves lucky

i dont think number of women is relevant.dont get this tokenistic here's the burds approach to politics.i would rather see appropriate candidates rather than a tick list approach
woman - check
ethnic- check
working class - check

Not only one, four.

Twinterror - cuts have to happen, because there is no money. Labour have spent it all. What is cut and when remains to be seen, but Child Trust Funds, and CTCs for those earning over £40k will be some of the first things to go.

twinterror it's been confirmed I think that tax credits will be cut.

No surprise - so many cuts needed

noeyedear and bedhed - I am totally with you.

snowlady I don't know what you mean about 'blair's babe types'. What type is that then? That was a media label. I am sure most of them were really hacked off by it. It was one of the great things about the first Blair term that there were so many new women MPs.

I do remember Clare Short refusing to do that terrible photocall though - she has her faults, but I admired her for that.

women make up 50% of the population

there are 130 women mps

but only one is worthy of being in cabinet whilst the same old face, ken clarke, ian duncan smith et al trot out iwth the same old idea s -

does not bode well for childcare vouchers, child tax credits, free nursery places for 3 year olds etc - never mind only 5 more years till the next election !"!

I am annoyed about this

And Theresa May - home secretary AND minister for women and equality??

Don't make me laugh

It means that

1. The 'women and equality' bit of the portfolio will just not get done, because home secretary is more than a full time job anyway

1. It is sheer tokenism - she does not stand for equality in any way, and when she was interviewed on PM today she couldn't even bring herself to say that she thought there should be more women in senior positions in politics

Don't want to rock the boat now you've got a nice seat up the front eh?

think there are 7 female lib dem MP's (irrc correctly I posted it futher up the thread)

That's a good point about experience imagine if we had a cabinet of brand newly elected MP's (of either sex) - not sure that would help to ease nerves in the slightest

Caroline Spelman has got Environment, and Cheryl Gillian has got Welsh Secretary.

So 20%, which is higher than the proportion of women MPs in the Government.

I hope we will see more appointed to junior ministerial posts and allowed to rise up through the ranks as they gain experience.

There are 51 Conservative female mps, not sure how many lib-dems. But a think a large number were new in this time, and cabinet roles are usually given to those with some parliamentary experience. But do bear in mind that there are many 'ministerial' positions that aren't in the Cabinet... and those jobs are still all being sorted out, and assigned.

We're also doing men sometimes a bit of a dis-serice here... much like MintHumbug arguing that women are about more than "women's issues" I think men are capable of also considering the same issues.

Why not think of them as people; whether male or female - how does this really effect their judgement?

Theresa May too - she was the one with the animal print clothes as I remember. Wasn't Theresa Villiers a spokesperson on something and what has happened to Sarah Teather?

When PR was introduced for the European Parliament a lot more women were elected. The Lib Dem lists order candidates male, female, male female - and in half the Euro seats a woman's name is first on the list, so about half the Lib Dem MEPs are women.

Maybe the same will happen for Westminster?

I loved seeing Baroness Warsi on question time with Nick Griffin. She was formidable, and won the respect of many non-Tory voters, including me.

oh those BNP voters must be devastated - not just a "foreign" (well she is to them) woman in the cabinet but a muslim woman

Baroness Warsi is the second confirmed woman in the cabinet - Party Chairman I think.

It is shocking and depressing that there is only one woman in the cabinet.

It's not about giving a woman a job just cause she's a woman.

It's about having a politics (and a media) that is representative of and reflective of the society we live in.

In Sweden, for instance, the government consists of an equal number of men and women. This balance was deliberately chosen because Swedes believe in the principles of gender equality.

We don't, and we have a poorer society and more inequality as a result.

I can appreciate the need for more women but why does everyone keep on going on about the fact cameron and clegg had a decent education.
Would you rather we had poorly educated people running the country?

As for the white male bit Cameron went out of his way to get a more diverse set of tory MPs and ruffled a lot of feathers in the process.

But yes it would be nice to see more able women in politics. Not the blair babe types though.

this is symptomatic of our new political elite
cameron - eton, oxford
clegg - westminister, cambridge

white, male. the reasons for lower participation are, as has been said are complex but we are going backwards. that is what our daughters will see men in suits talking to men in suits. Tis depressing.

Theresa M frightens me.

fruitstick - you are absolutely right.

Just watched the first prime minister's press conference in the Rose Garden. Men in suits talking to men in suits.

I like both of them - but how depressing is this?

Surely Theresa May will have enough to do as Home Secretary? Would it not be better to have another Minister for women and equality? Or is it too much to ask for to have two women in the cabinet??

Where are all the women in the cabinet?

In the kitchen, making tea and arranging digestives on doilies.

I wish I was joking.

or they're quite young, like Jenny Willott and Jo Swinson.

I hope Lynn Featherstone has a role - as someone commented on Lib Dem Voice just now, she's good at making things happen.

The Lib Dems had quite a few good women candidates who either lost their seats or were expected to win new ones and unfortunately didn't (like Sal Brinton in Watford).