Helen Grant, MP: The need for gender balance in politics

Helen Grant, elected Conservative MP for Maidstone and the Weald in the last General Election, speaks out in totalpolitics on the need for greater female representation within the House of Commons:

Here's an excerpt—but do make sure you read the whole opinion piece:

A healthy democracy should reflect the nation it purports to represent. On its most basic level, diversity in parliament must surely strive to mirror the fact that 51 per cent of the population female.

The effect of the individual as a role model can be profound. The more balanced our political landscape becomes, the more pronounced will be the positive effect of female political role models on the aspirations of others across our social strata.  Success breeds success and improvements in the lower echelons will inevitably exert vertical pressure on the system.

In this country and throughout most of the world women are, typically, the main homemakers and carers. An increase in female representation would undoubtedly lead to improvements in the understanding of the needs of families, and those for whom they care, resulting in better and more effective policy in this area.

Furthermore, I believe fundamentally that the family unit is one of the keystones of a healthy and stable society. The processes of Parliament are well known to be unfriendly to those MPs who have families. The changes imposed by the IPSA last year in terms of living accommodation and the related costs have exacerbated the problem to such a degree that family homemakers are being discriminated out of the Parliamentary system. An increase in female representation would help to counter this unhealthy trend immeasurably.

Women purportedly account for 80 per cent of consumer purchasing decisions in many countries. To make prudent consumer related policy requires female input if Parliament is to accurately reflect the needs of the public at large.