‘Not Falling but Stalling’ Women and the 2011 Scottish Parliament Elections.

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Presentation transcript:

‘Not Falling but Stalling’ Women and the 2011 Scottish Parliament Elections

Where are the women?

‘Stalling not falling’ 2011: 45 women MSPs elected (34.8%) Compared to: 2007: 43 women (33.3%) 2003: 51 women (39.5%) 1999: 48 women (37.2%) Raises questions as to future prospects for women’s representation in Scotland

Gender Breakdowns PartyFemaleMaleTotal% female SNP % Labour % Conservatives % Liberal Democrats % Others % Total % Table 1: Scottish Parliament 2011 by party and gender

Gender Breakdowns Table 2: Scottish Parliament 2011 by party, seat and gender PartyConstituencyTotal seats const (%women) ListTotal seats list (%women) Total MSPs Total Women Total Men % women (%women 2007) femalemalefemalemale Labour6915 (40%) (50%) % (50%) SNP (35.9%) (31.3%) % (25.5%) Cons033 (0.0%) 6612 (50%) % (29.4%) Lib Dems022 (0.0%) 123 (33.3%) 51420% (12.5%) Greens000 (0.0%) 112 (50%) 21150% (0.00%) Ind000 (0.0%) 101 (100%) % (100%) Totals (27.4%) (44.6%) %

Gender Breakdowns

Candidate Selection

Party Measures to Improve Women’s Representation ‘Soft’ measures – e.g. gender-balanced shortlists, training, encouragement Labour & Lib Dems – gender-balanced shortlists BUT, not uniformly implemented or enforced Hard ‘equality guarantees’ – e.g. ‘twinning’, all-women shortlists, zipping Labour & Greens – gender templates on the list (alternating men and women in top places)

Underlying trends Trends across parties of stasis or decline in number of women MSPs (e.g. Labour, SNP, Lib Dems), or large percentage increases based on small numerical gains (Conservatives) Efficacy of strong equality measures (Labour, Greens) But, further progress unlikely without greater commitment by other parties (especially the SNP) Questions as to whether Scottish Labour will continue to lead the way on women’s representation

Why does it matter? Arguments on the grounds of equality, justice and fairness Expectations that women MSPs would ‘make a difference’ (e.g. domestic violence agenda) Potentially far-reaching implications in terms of the Scottish Parliament’s symbolic importance, political culture, and policy outcomes

Future prospects? Number of women once again the result of ‘accident rather than design’ (Mackay 2003; Mackay and Kenny 2007, 2009) Gender equality measures poorly institutionalised within parties Little room for complacency as the Parliament enters its fourth term….