ABSTRACT
Women are notably absent from what is conventionally seen as ‘politics’ in most societies including Britain. When the Labour Government was elected in 1997, much was made of ‘Blair’s babes’ – the newly elected female Labour MPs. However, British politics remains dominated by men at national level. Most Cabinet Ministers are male, and most MPs are male. Despite the fact that the former Conservative Party leader, Mrs Thatcher, was Prime Minister from 1979 to 1991, there are and have been few other women in key positions of political power in Britain, few women trade union leaders and few Members of Parliament (though the number of women local government councillors has increased). Women are assumed to be less able at carrying out political tasks than men and less interested in politics. Interestingly, the collapse of communism in the former USSR has resulted in a reduction in the number of women engaged in positions of political power as social institutions have begun to resemble those of the West more closely. In some countries such as Rwanda, meanwhile, 50 per cent female membership of Parliament has been achieved – through a quota system designed to ensure this.
