Women in Politics and Public Life

In both politics and public life in the UK, women have historically been underrepresented. In recent years, however, women’s representation has increased, although in most cases men remain overrepresented, especially in more senior positions.

This briefing presents statistics on a range of positions held by women in UK politics and public life. Data on the demographic characteristics of different workforces tends to be limited, so it is not always possible to include intersectional analysis, for example, on disabled women or women from minority ethnic groups.

UK Parliament and Government

Currently there are 263 female MPs in the House of Commons and 238 female members of the House of Lords. In the Commons women make up 40% of MPs and in the Lords 30%. Together, women make up 35% of members of the Commons and Lords.

After 1918 when women became eligible to be MPs, the number grew slowly until a jump in 1997 when 120 women were elected. Since then, the number of female MPs has continued to grow. Following the 2024 general election, 263 MPs were women. At 40%, this was an all-time high.

Between 1918 and 2024, there were 693 individual women elected to the House of Commons.

Eleven ministers in the current Cabinet are women, representing 50% of Cabinet Ministers and the Prime Minister.

In 2022, Liz Truss MP became Britain’s third female Prime Minister, following Theresa May MP (2016-2019) and Baroness Thatcher (1979-1990).

Source: Members’ Names Information Service

Devolved legislatures and local government

Women make up 43% of Members of the Senedd Cymru/Welsh Parliament, 46% of the Scottish Parliament and 40% of the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Around 41% of local authority councillors in England are women. In Northern Ireland, around 26% of councillors are women, in Scotland it is 35% and in Wales, 28%.

44% of members of the London Assembly are women.

The chart below shows the female membership of UK parliaments and assemblies following an election since 1997.

International comparisons

According to the Inter-Parliamentary Union, with women making up 40% of the House of Commons, the United Kingdom ranks 27th globally for the proportion of women in the lower (or only) house of parliament. Rwanda, Cuba and Nicaragua have the highest female representation.

Historically, the UK was the fourth country to elect women to Parliament, doing so in 1918, the same year as Denmark, Ireland and the Netherlands.

Women in public life

The proportion of women in public sector roles has increased in the past decades.

The most recent statistics, given in the chart below, show that 76% of teachers in state-funded schools and 76% of NHS workers were women, as were 55% of civil servants, 49% of public appointments, 44% of workers in higher education, 43% of judges, 35% of police officers and 12% of the armed forces.

Selected sources:

• Members Names Information Service
• International Parliamentary Union
• National Census of Local Authority Councillors
• Civil Service statistics
• Judicial diversity statistics,
• UK Armed Forces diversity statistics
• NHS workforce statistics

See document for a full list of sources.