ABSTRACT
The 120 women MPs returned to Westminster in 1997 constituted 18.2 per cent of all MPs and doubled the numbers of women overnight (Table 3.1).1 This increase in itself makes it important to reconsider explanations for women’s numerical representation in Parliament. That 101 of the 120 were Labour MPs and that 35 of the 65 Labour women MPs elected for the first time in 1997 were selected from all-women shortlists (AWS) makes this task all the more necessary.2
