Women's Representation in Politics: What Can Be Done Within the Law?
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Women’s Representation in UK Politics: What can be done within the Law? by Meg Russell June 2000 £10.00 Contents List of Tables.............................................................................................................................................3 Acknowledgements...................................................................................................................................3 Executive Summary ...............................................................................................................4 Introduction ............................................................................................................................5 1. Positive Action and the UK Political Parties....................................................................6 1.1 Labour ...........................................................................................................................................8 1.2 Liberal Democrats .......................................................................................................................9 1.3 Conservatives.............................................................................................................................11 1.4 Plaid Cymru ...............................................................................................................................11 1.5 Scottish National Party .............................................................................................................12 1.6 Summary of action taken..........................................................................................................12 2. Positive Action Elsewhere in Europe .............................................................................14 2.1 Country case studies .................................................................................................................17 Sweden ...........................................................................................................................................18 Germany.........................................................................................................................................18 Belgium ..........................................................................................................................................19 France.............................................................................................................................................19 Italy ................................................................................................................................................20 Portugal..........................................................................................................................................20 2.2 Domestic legislation in other EU member states ..................................................................21 2.3 International action ...................................................................................................................22 3. The Legal Context ............................................................................................................24 3.1 Domestic UK law.......................................................................................................................24 The Sex Discrimination Act and the Jepson case...........................................................................24 A more settled view ........................................................................................................................27 Moves to change the law ................................................................................................................28 3.2 European law .............................................................................................................................30 The Equal Treatment Directive (76/207/EEC) ..............................................................................31 The Kalanke and Marschall cases...................................................................................................32 The Amsterdam Treaty ..................................................................................................................34 The Badeck case ..............................................................................................................................35 Latest developments .......................................................................................................................35 3.3 Human rights law and international treaties ........................................................................36 4. The Legal Questions ........................................................................................................38 4.1 Legal process..............................................................................................................................39 4.2 Can parties take positive action now?....................................................................................40 4.3 Does the Equal Treatment Directive cover candidate selection?........................................41 4.4 If the Directive applies, does it allow positive action?.........................................................45 4.5 Human rights implications ......................................................................................................46 5. Ways Forward...................................................................................................................48 Option 1: Do nothing ......................................................................................................................48 Option 2: Amend the Sex Discrimination Act to exempt political selections .........................49 Option 3: Amend the Sex Discrimination Act to allow positive action by parties.................50 Option 4: A new electoral law permitting positive action.........................................................52 Option 5: Require positive action by law.....................................................................................53 Summary...........................................................................................................................................56 Conclusion............................................................................................................................57 2 List of Tables Table 1: Women’s Representation in the Welsh Assembly, 1999 election.....................................5 Table 2: Women’s Representation in the Scottish Parliament, 1999 election................................6 Table 3: Women’s Representation in the Greater London Assembly, 2000 election ...................6 Table 4: Women’s Representation in the House of Commons, 1997 election...............................6 Table 5: Women’s Representation from the UK in European Parliament, 1999 election............7 Table 6: Summary of positive action policies by UK parties.........................................................12 Table 7: Women’s Representation in National Legislatures (lower house) ................................14 Table 8: Women’s Representation in the European Parliament, by country ..............................14 Table 9: Women’s Representation in National Legislatures (lower house), by party ...............15 Table 10: Options for the Future........................................................................................................55 Acknowledgements This project was funded by a social science small grant from the Nuffield Foundation. I am grateful to them for their support. The project relied heavily both on interviews and other information from people from a wide range of disciplines. The lawyers who helped with the project included: Michael Beloff QC, Geoffrey Bindman, Professor Noreen Burrows (University of Glasgow), Christopher Docksey (European Commission legal service), Sir Patrick Elias, Tess Gill, James Goudie QC, Fiona Kinsman (European Commission legal service), Alan Lakin (EOC), Lord Lester QC, Denis Martin (European Commission legal service), Muriel Robison (EOC Scotland). Those who helped with information about the UK parties included: Wendy Alexander MSP, Jackie Ballard MP, Val Feld AM, Helen Mary Jones AM, Councillor Marilyne Maclaren, Rachel McLean (Labour Party), Mike Penn (Wales Labour Party), Jenny Randerson AM, Shona Robison MSP, Caroline Spellman MP. Overseas information was provided by, amongst others: Anette Borchorst (Aarhus University, Denmark), Britta Erftmann (German SPD), Vanessa Eyre (Socialist International Women), Lissy Gröner MEP, Sylvie Guillaume (Parti Socialiste, France), Prof Jean Jacqmain (Free University of Brussels), Kim Cort (Danish Equal Status Council), Gisela Lange (European Commission), Annick Masselot (Strathclyde University), Christine Nilsson (Swedish Social Democratic Party), Ina Sjerps (Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Legal Studies, University of Amsterdam). I am also grateful for help to Lucy Anderson (TUC), Professor Alice Brown (University of Edinburgh), Becky Gill (Fawcett Society), Professor Joni Lovenduski (Birkbeck College), Kirsty Milne (The Scotsman) and Mary Ann Stephenson (Fawcett Society). Constitution Unit colleagues who helped with aspects of the project and gave comments on drafts of this report were: Jeremy Croft, Elizabeth Haggett, Robert Hazell, Andrea Loux, Roger Masterman and Ben Seyd. 3 Executive Summary This report considers the legal situation