Local councils and female representation: the 2008 figures
Written by Mark Pack on 1st December 2008 – 1:20 pmThe newly published Thrasher & Rallings analysis of May’s local election results once again gives a breakdown of candidates and councillors by gender.
Here they are, with 2007’s figures in brackets:
31% (30%) of Conservative candidates were female
31% (30%) of Labour candidates were female
34% (34) of Liberal Democrat candidates were female
“28-29%” (29%) of Conservative councillors are female
“28-29%” (31%) of Labour councillors are female
“A third” (34%) of Liberal Democrats councillors are female
They conclude that:
The proportion of men and women candidates contesting local elections now appears fixed in the ratio 2:1 and the rapid rise in women candidates during the second half of the 1980s has stopped … There is just one authority, Purbeck district council, where women candidates outnumbered the men. By contrast, there are three local authorities in Wales where the proportion of women is fewer than one in five candidates.
Another trend that continues is for the percentage of women elected to be slightly less than the percentage of women candidates.
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1st December 2008 at 5:11 pm
They used to say that on average, women candidates got more votes than men. Is this no longer true then?
If true, then it would follow that for the number of women cllrs to stay constant, then the number of female candidates would have actually risen. I.e. that the lack of progress is lying more with the electorate than with parties.
1st December 2008 at 8:50 pm
Depends where the women are standing and what sort of candidate they are. Are the majority of a parties female candidates in winnable wards.
Clearly you can’t tell from these stats, so Mark, you cannot derive the conclusion that women are getting less votes than men in comparable seats.
2nd December 2008 at 10:29 am
I thought (but may be wrong) that women out-numbered men 2:1 on Islington council …?