Women On Boards

Following the publication of Lord Davies' report on Women On Boards, I was delighted to be given the opportunity to put a question directly to the Prime Minister during last week's Prime Minister's Questions. I asked the Prime Minister: "Yesterday was International Women's Day, and today great trade figures and export growth were announced. Does the Prime Minister agree that we would have even better figures if we managed to get more women on the boards of companies across the UK?" The Prime Minister responded: "My Honourable Friend is right to draw attention to today's trade figures, which show a big increase in exports, which is exactly the sort of rebalancing that our economy needs. It is absolutely right that we need to get more women involved in the work force and at board level. In addition, in terms of entrepreneurialism, if we had the same rate of women setting up small businesses as in America, we would have tens of thousands of extra businesses creating wealth and jobs." As a strong believer in the value of having more women at senior levels in organisations, I welcome the report on Women on Boards from Lord Davies. This report summarises neatly the growing body of evidence that points to the fact that companies with women at the senior levels perform better. However, according to a report by the Cranfield School of Management, only 12.5% of directors of FTSE 100 companies are women, and only 7.8% of directors of FTSE 250 companies are women - but there are 52.4% that have no women on their boards. I fully agree with the Lord Davies report that has stopped short of recommending quotas for the number of women on boards - we must promote on the basis of merit and skills. The approach recommended requires companies to consider and report on their policy for promoting women to the senior levels and I believe this is the right way to address the current situation.

Marking International Women's Day in Westminster

On Tuesday 8 March I gathered together female MPs and Peers from all parties in Westminster to mark the centenary of International Women's Day.

We were joined in Westminster Hall by the Speaker of the House of Lords, Baroness Hayman, and the Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons, Dawn Primarolo.

Since its launch in 1911, International Women's Day has grown to become a global day of recognition and celebration across developed and developing countries alike.

I was eager to mark this important day. International Women's Day was founded even before women in Britain were given equal voting rights to men and has been a symbol of women's rights for one hundred years.

We have come a long way since then, but the fact remains that of the 649 MPs currently sitting in the House of Commons, only 144 are women. This is something that I hope will change and I have set up an All Party Parliamentary Group on Women In Parliament to champion this.

We are fortunate in this country that girls and women have good access to education and indeed are outperforming their male counterparts at all stages in the education system - but I believe there is more we can do to encourage and increase uptake of science and technology subjects by women in the UK, both of which are extremely important to the future of the economy.

The global picture is of course quite different. I welcome the role that the United Nation's Millennium Development Goals have played in defining global aims on key issues including access to education for women. In many countries in the world, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa, South and West Asia and North Africa, women do not have easy access to education, particularly beyond primary level. It is right therefore that we use International Women's Day to focus on this issue for girls and women across the globe.

International Women's Day

On Saturday, I helped mark the centenary of International Women's Day (IWD) by speaking at an event at Hounslow Civic Centre. The event brought together women from across the Borough, giving them an opportunity to celebrate achievements and diversity in the community.

I was delighted to have the opportunity to address more than 900 women who had gathered to celebrate the fantastic wealth of female talent locally. This year's theme for IWD is about 'providing equal access to education, training and science and technology' which in turn will 'provide pathways to decent work for women.'

We are fortunate in this country that girls and women have good access to education and indeed are outperforming their male counterparts at all stages in the education system - but I believe there is more we can do to encourage and increase uptake of science and technology subjects by women in the UK, both of which are extremely important to the future of the economy.

The global picture is of course quite different. I welcome the role that the Millennium Development Goals have played in defining global aims on key issues including access to education for women. In many countries in the world, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa, South and West Asia and North Africa, women do not have easy access to education, particularly beyond Primary level. It is right therefore that we use International Women's Day to focus on this issue for girls and women accross the globe.

We have made significant progress in increasing the number of female politicians but the reality is that it is currently a male-dominated world. There are areas, such as the treatment of women in the justice system and the issue of domestic violence in this country that may not always have been given sufficient focus.

Last week, Lord Davies published a report about Women on Boards. Having worked in the City for a number of years, I am keen to address the issue of giving more women the opportunity to take on senior roles in business.

I have organised a debate in the House of Commons on Thursday in the main chamber to debate women's issues and to celebrate women's achievements to date.

No Women No Peace

On Monday I went to support the launch of a new campaign for women living in conflict called No Women No Peace. It is a campaign by Gender Action for Peace and Security (GAPS UK), a network of 14 human rights and development organisations.

All over the world, women are prime targets during conflict. Rape, displacement, torture and kidnap are common experiences of women - yet when it comes to negotiating and building peace, women are often excluded.

The No Women No Peace campaign, launched to mark the 10 year anniversary of an important UN resolution, highlights the fact that without women's involvement peace will fail to meet the needs of 50% of the population.

The campaign launch in the House of Commons included a speech from the Foreign Secretary, the Rt Hon William Hague MP, and women's rights activist Wazhma Frogh.

I am proud an delighted to be able to lend my support to such a worthwhile cause. With women constituting half the world's population, it seems abundantly clear that they must be involved in peace making on both a local and global scale. I wish the campaign every success.

To get involved with No Women No Peace, visit http://www.nowomennopeace.org/

Women in the Conservative Party

The Times printed an article this week which stated that the Conservative Party had made no improvement in getting more women into Parliament. It was complete nonsense.

The facts are:

a) 80 women have been selected, most selected in winnable constituencies. If the Conservatives are elected with an overall majority of just one seat they will have 55 Conservative female MPs. More than a threefold increase over the current number of 17 female MPs.

b) There are 7 women in the Shadow Cabinet. Given there are only 17 female MPs women, this means that more than 40% of our female MPs are in the Shadow Cabinet. This is a sign of how committed to women’s advancement David Cameron is.

I have fought long and hard to get more women into roles in public life and Parliament. No-one though should be given a role just because of their gender or race. It should be because they are the best person for the job with the right skills and experience. We want the best men and women in the Shadow Cabinet so that they can deliver much needed change for our country.

There is naturally more to be done of course to increase female representation at all levels of public life and we need to encourage more women to come forward to stand for election – both locally and nationally.

Photo: Theresa May MP, Mary Macleod and some of the female candidates who are standing at the next election

Women in the World Today

I attended today the launch of a paper, which I helped create with Rt Hon Theresa May MP, called 'Women in the World Today'. It outlines the opportunities and challenges that we face in society today:

a) Women in the workplace - there is still a gender pay gap of 17%, flexible working is still not readily available and women typically have smaller pensions.

b) Women in their communities - there is a lack of choice for childcare and female carers suffer from a lack of support and a loss of earnings.

c) Vulmerable women - homeless women have issues in being housed, female prisoners suffer isolation and self-harm, 1 in 4 women still suffer domestic violence in their lifetime, victims of stalking are not properly supported and women are victims of human trafficking.

d) Women and ethnicity - women in Britain are being forced into marriage, polygamy exists in some communities, women in some communities experience enforced segregation, female genital mutilation is widespread in the UK and British women suffer 'honour' violence and killings.

e) The role of women in international development - women overwhelmingly bear the burden of extreme poverty and deprivation but can be used effectively as recipients of aid and can improve development.

I believe that these are incredibly important concerns within British society today and it is difficult to believe that some of these issues still exist in today's world. We need to be able to give women real choice over their own lives - a choice that remains elusive for too many women in 21st century Britain. I believe in an approach which is based on equality of opportunity and equitable legal, commercial, social and political treatment. We are all individual human beings, who deserve to be treated the same, no matter who we are, what our gender is or where we come from. I want choice and opportunity for all.

Pictured here are some female Conservative Parliamentary candidates with Rt Hon Theresa May MP (I am sixth from the left hand side..beside the yellow coat)