A lengthy but interesting article by Andrew Gimson for ConservativeHome:
We know that most of the people wishing to become MPs are men. It seems that a disproportionate number of the MPs who leave after just one term are women. For all Andrew Gimson’s rambling commentary on the latter ‘problem’, the reality can be summarised as this:
Family responsibilities and the pressures and frustrations of being an MP deter more women than men from becoming or remaining MPs.
So what solutions are proposed for this ‘problem’? Parliament long ago adjusted its hours to suit female MPs with family responsibilities, the taxpayer is funding crèches, but nothing is ever enough, is it? Now there’s serious talk about having part-time MPs, where two people (invariably women, we can be very sure) will share the responsibilities of the role. Do women not look at what Margaret Thatcher achieved before and during three terms as prime minister, from 1979, and see women as the ‘problem’? Women who are as capable and hard-working as men – such as Mrs T – will always do as well as them in politics as in other fields. That’s been the case for several decades.
