Female Members of Parliament

There are currently 224 MPs who are women.

Women have been able to stand for election as an MP since 1918, following the Parliament (Qualification of Women) Act. Since 1918, there have been 560 female MPs.

The first female MP elected was Constance, Countess Markievicz. She won the Dublin, St Patrick’s seat in the 1918 General Election but in line with her party Sinn Féin’s abstentionist policy, she did not take her seat. The first women elected to the House of Commons who took her seat was Nancy, Viscountess Astor, who won Plymouth, Sutton at a by-election in 1919.

Download data on female MPs

The Excel spreadsheet that you can download from this landing page provides a list of all the women who have ever been elected to the House of Commons.

MPs are listed election by election. When more than one MP was elected on the same day, they are listed in the order in which they took the oath or affirmed (ie in swearing-in order).

This list provides the names of the female MPs, the party they were first elected for, the constituency or constituencies they represented and the dates they sat as MPs.

Please note Sinn Féin MPs have never taken their seats in the House of Commons. They are included in the list; they are listed after the final MP to swear in at the relevant election.

Women in the 2019 Parliament

Following the 2019 General Election, 220 of the 650 seats in the House of Commons were held by female MPs. This was the highest number of women ever to sit at the same time in the House of Commons. Since then, Dame Cheryl Gillan has died; Tracy Brabin stood down, following her election as the first Mayor of West Yorkshire; Kate Green stood down, to become deputy mayor for policing and crime, in Greater Manchester; and Rosie Cooper stood down to become chair of the Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust. But eight new women have been elected at by-elections:

• Jill Mortimer, Hartlepool, on 6 May 2021;
• Anum Qaisar-Javed, Airdrie and Shotts, on 13 May 2021;
• Sarah Green, Chesham and Amersham, on 17 June 2021;
• Kim Leadbeater, Batley and Spen, on 1 July 2021;
• Helen Morgan, North Shropshire, on 16 December 2021;
• Anna Firth, Southend West, on 3 February 2022;
• Paulette Hamilton, Birmingham Erdington, on 3 March 2022; and
• Samantha Dixon, City of Chester on 1 December 2022.

With Paulette Hamilton’s election in March 2022, the total number of women MPs reached a new record level of 225. It fell back to 224, when Kate Green stood down and then to 223, when Rosie Cooper stood down but returned to 224 with the election of Samantha Dixon in December 2022.

As many female MPs ever as male MPs in the Chamber

Until December 2016, there had been fewer female MPs ever than there were men sitting in the House of Commons, at any one time. When Dr Caroline Johnson won the Sleaford and North Hykeham by-election on 8 December 2016, she became the 455th woman to be elected as an MP. There were 455 male MPs in the House of Commons at that time. For further information, see the Library Insight, As many women MPs (ever) as men (now).

Further reading

Women in Parliament and Government

The Library briefing Women in Politics and Public Life includes the number of women elected at each general election and provides information on the women who have served in the Cabinet. It also contains comparative data on the devolved legislatures and draws international comparisons.

History of the parliamentary franchise

The Library briefing The History of the Parliamentary Franchise shows the incremental stages which led to universal suffrage across the UK. It draws on recognised sources and looks at important legislation.

Further information on women and the vote can be found on the Living Heritage pages on the parliamentary website.

Women in the House of Lords

In 2018, to mark the 60th anniversary of the first female life peerages (four were announced at the same time), the House of Lords Library published a list of current and former female peers, Lords Membership: List of Current and Former Female Peers, which has since been updated.