By Maggie McTernan, programme co-ordinator at Elect Her Laura Bates begins her book Fix the system, not the women with a personal list of her experiences of sexism, from the routine lessons in gender stereotyping, through everyday sexism and verbal harassment to sexual assault. The experiences on her list go back to early childhood, but she only began to think of them as a list when three occurred in one week, which prompted her to join the dots. She then started asking other women about their experiences. They were generally able to supply a list without much effort, but they were also surpri ..read more

By Kathryn Lum, a gender equality trainer, lecturer, researcher and writer.  Have you ever voted in a national election and felt that your vote was ‘wasted’, as your constituency is dominated by a single party that does not represent you? Have you ever voted for a party simply because the alternative was even worse, or because your preferred party would have no hope of being elected in your area? If so, you are not alone. Across the UK, voters are regularly denied the chance for their vote to truly count or are forced to engage in tactical voting, due to our electoral system, known as fi ..read more

By Celia Hensman, Co-Founding Director of The Disability Policy Centre The world-renowned Parliament of The United Kingdom is christened as ‘The Mother of  All Parliaments,’ one of the oldest democratic institutions of the world, and the  developer of the very concept of representative democracy in 1688. Despite ownership  of these esteemed titles, the state of representation for disabled people, and people  with long term health conditions makes for a shocking read.   Despite being one the largest minority groups in the country, with over 20% of our  populat ..read more

By Alice Bell, campaigner with Fawcett East London Though the last couple of years has seen some unprecedented challenges - from Brexit, to a global pandemic - there are some persistent issues which have been the focus of political struggle for centuries. One such issue is equal pay. In 1918, suffragist Millicent Fawcett wrote about John Jones’ wife - who continued to do her husband’s work braiding military tunics after he fell ill and died. Yet, as soon as it became apparent that the work was hers, “the price paid for it by the firm was immediately reduced to two-thirds of the amount paid whe ..read more

Throughout our work at Elect Her, we hear the direct impact of barriers facing women in and entering politics. Thanks to our fantastic community of wonderful women, we also hear plenty of ideas and dreams for how it could be improved, not only in the short term but for generations to come, to ensure women can enter and stay in politics.  Ultimately, we want women to have access to the same resources and opportunities as men to ensure gender equality in politics. That’s why we’ve carved out some space to dream, freely and openly, about what the future of politics could look like. More spec ..read more

As we prepare our next Scotland’s Women Stand event for 2023, we reflect on when we ran the event in 2019. This blog is from our archive, where our CEO Hannah Stevens shared some of the work she and our team did to ensure that Scotland’s Women Stand was the most inclusive political event for women it could be. By Hannah Stevens If we're serious about making our politics represent the communities that we live in, then we need people with a rich variety of lived experiences sitting at the decision making table. At The Parliament Project we are committed to encouraging women to stand for elected ..read more

I have a theory, (I doubt its actually MY theory), but I believe that in order for new opportunities to enter your life there has to be room for them. So, I did a newsletter spring clean and unsubscribed from all the emails I continuously ignore. I have to say it was hard to admit to myself which ‘worthy causes’ were no longer ones that motivated me.  Low and behold, one day something arrived in my inbox that truly excited me.  “Did I want to start my journey to political office?”.  I was blown away. I felt like it was the universe speaking to me.  Growing up I h ..read more

Christine Wallace, Peer Circles Cohort 7 I had the pleasure of taking part in an Elect Her Peer Circles Cohort earlier this year, not as someone who was looking to see if running for election was for her, but as someone who had already made the decision to run for office. I attended as someone who is developing my plan to find myself on the green benches of Parliament.  I am aware that luck and circumstance has a lot to do with whether one ends up elected as an MP but I am also a strong believer that good organisation and planning will increase your odds. It is with that in mind I signed ..read more

I have a theory, (I doubt its actually MY theory), but I believe that in order for new opportunities to enter your life there has to be room for them. So, I did a newsletter spring clean and unsubscribed from all the emails I continuously ignore. I have to say it was hard to admit to myself which ‘worthy causes’ were no longer ones that motivated me.  Low and behold, one day something arrived in my inbox that truly excited me.  “Did I want to start my journey to political office?”.  I was blown away. I felt like it was the universe speaking to me.  Growing up I h ..read more

On Wednesday evening, I was one of 150 women who joined the Parliament Project for the “Women in Town and Parish Council – What is it and can I do it?” workshop. It was a truly electric, informative and inspiring session, where we shared our hopes and aspirations for Town and Parish Council and heard from three phenomenal guests who encouraged us to “put on our big girl pants” and throw ourselves into our political journeys. Here’s what I learnt.  What they are... Town Councils, Parish Councils, sometimes referred to as Community Councils - they’re all the same! They fall under ..read more