Women and the 2015 General Election: Fractures in the Glass Ceiling?

By Meryl Kenny, Juliet Swann and

The run-up to the 2015 General Election was dominated by coverage of shaking up the status quo in British politics – ranging from the ‘scarlet sisterhood’ of female party leaders to the now infamous photo-shopped ‘wrecking ball’ image of Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon. In the end, a record high of 191 women MPs (29%) were elected to the House of Commons on 7 May, an increase of 48 women from the immediate post-2010 election results. With the resignations of Nick Clegg and Ed Miliband, five of Britain’s main political parties are now led by women – including interim party leaders Harriet Harman (Labour), Sal Brinton (Lib Dem)…and (briefly) Suzanne Evans (UKIP) until Nigel Farage’s recent ‘un-resignation’.

Yet, while these gains are to be welcomed, women’s presence at Westminster remains a long way from parity. The 2015 election results…