January 2011 issue of Parliamentary Affairs
Discounted rate for Hansard Society members
In the January 2011 issue of Parliamentary Affairs, Dr Ruth Fox, Director of the Hansard Society’s Parliament and Government programme suggests that the former international beacons of progress for the representation of women, Scotland and Wales, are at serious risk of regression if positive action isn’t implemented.
In her article, ‘Boom and Bust’ in Women’s Representation: Lessons to be Learnt from a Decade of Devolution, Dr Fox analyses the history of women’s representation in the devolved legislatures, arguing that a commitment to the principles of equality coupled with a ‘blank-slate’ approach and an alternative electoral system produced the impressive results of 2003. However, the downward drift in women’s representation seen in 2007 and the Labour Party and Plaid Cymru’s recent retreat from previous strong positions on gender balance suggests that the situation will continue to worsen in 2011.
Dr Fox contests that in order to reverse this trend, the women’s movement must unite and re-energise to ensure that the significant progress made since devolution is not lost. Advocating positive action for women’s representation and a reappraisal of the media’s objectification of women, Dr Fox’s article highlights the new measures that are necessary to ensure the high level of women’s representation in the devolved legislatures remains.
For further information, contact Virginia Gibbons, Head of Communications at the Hansard Society on mediaprog@hansard.lse.ac.uk or 020 7438 1225
Editors Notes
- Parliamentary Affairs is a long-established journal published by Oxford University Press in association with the Hansard Society. Individual subscriptions cost £62 a year; special reduced subscriptions for Hansard Society subscription members cost £25 a year.
- Become a member of the Hansard Society and receive a reduced subscription rate.
- Individual subscriptions cost £62 a year from jnls.cust.serv@oxfordjournals.org or Journals Customer Service Department, Oxford University Press, Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP.
- Other articles in this edition of the Journal include:
- Simulating the Effects of the Alternative Vote in the 2010 UK General Election – David Sanders, Harold D. Clarke, Marianne C. Stewart and Paul Whiteley
- Britain‘s First Live Televised Party Leaders’ Debate: From the News Cycle to the Political Information Cycle – Andrew Chadwick
- Political Conduct and Misconduct: Probing Public Opinion – Nicholas Allen and Sarah Birch
- Answering Questions in Parliament During Budget Debates: Deliberative Reciprocity and Globalisation in Western Europe – Hans Agné