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Gender and the Liberal Democrats

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The Liberal Democrats are the UK’s third party at Westminster: they currently have fifty-seven MPs, less than 10 percent of the House of Commons. Despite the fact that they are currently in coalition govern- ment with the Conservatives, their third party status is reflected in the relative lack of attention paid to the party, hence less is known about the party’s organisation, policies and personnel compared to the Labour and the Conservative parties. The representation of women by the Liberal Democrats is further marginalised in extant studies and commentary. Following the 2010 general election, men made up 87.7 percent of the Parliamentary party. Whilst previous research has noted that the vast majority of their MPs were male (Childs, 2008a; Russell and Fieldhouse, 2005) a detailed institutional analysis of why this should be the case is lacking. Of course, with so few MPs of either sex, a poor track record on women’s representation may appear to be a some- what minor concern. However, the question of women’s representation matters for the Liberal Democrats, not least because of their status as coalition partners in government. The party itself recognises that women’s representation is a problem, although their attempts to redress the imbalance have been slow and hesitant, and their record sits uneasily alongside their claim to be a ‘pro-women party’ (Harrison, 2009b).

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Detail Information

Series Title

Gender and the Liberal Democrats

Call Number

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Publisher

United Kingdom : Manchester University Press., 2011

Collation

1-193

Language

English

ISBN/ISSN

9780719083471

Classification

NONE

Content Type

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Media Type

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Carrier Type

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Edition

1st Edtion

Subject(s)

Governance

Specific Detail Info

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Statement of Responsibility

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