Mary Macleod, former MP for Brentford and Isleworth, has praised the Government’s decision to introduce a Women and Equalities Select Committee in Parliament for the first time, which she proposed during her time in the Commons.
As one of the first acts of the new Parliament, the Government has proposed that a committee be established with the specific purpose of scrutinising the work of the Women and Equalities Minister and the Government Equalities Office.
During her time in Parliament, Mary Macleod led the campaign to encourage more women to become MPs, founding the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for ‘Women in Parliament’ in 2010. As Chair of the APPG, Mary authored a report (pdf) examining how the number of women in Parliament could be increased which made a number of key recommendations, including the importance of creating a Women and Equalities Select Committee.
Mary Macleod, who spearheaded the campaign for the Women and Equalities Select Committee over the last year, applauded the news:
“I am delighted to hear that the Government is making women a priority for this Parliament. Women and Equalities is one of the very few departments that doesn’t already have a Select Committee so we need a dedicated committee to hold Government to account on all equality issues. It’s especially great to see the APPG’s hard work breaking ground just weeks after more women took up their seats in Parliament than ever before. Women now make up just over 29% of the House of Commons and there are 21 more Conservative female MPs.
This follows the great work that was done for women in the last Government including getting more women into work than ever before, more women on company boards, more female led businesses than ever before and reducing the gender pay gap.
Mary raised the Select Committee at Prime Minister’s Questions in March and received a vote of support from the Prime Minister who said:
‘I would welcome the opportunity for this particular proposal… and I am grateful to you for raising it at this early stage.”
May 25, 2015