The Member of Parliament for Eastleigh, Mims Davies, has been re-elected by colleagues as Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Women in Parliament. The purpose of the group is to increase the number of women in Parliament in all parties and to encourage women to get involved in public life.
Commenting Mims said:
“I am delighted to have been unanimously re-elected by my cross-party colleagues to this position. We must all welcome that we return to a Parliament that is more diverse than ever before, including more women taking places on the historic green benches within the Commons Chamber, but as always, there remains more to do.”
“This includes tackling the levels of abuse that parliamentary candidates - particularly women - can and worryingly have been subjected to, as has been highlighted by last month’s General Election.”
“It is imperative that we all get a grip on this issue before it puts women off of not just entering politics at a national level, but also at a local level, reversing the huge steps that have been taken.”
208 women MPs were elected at the 2017 General Election, 32% of all MPs and a record high. Prior to 1987 women had never made up more than 5% of the MPs sitting in the Commons Chamber.
A total of 489 women have been elected to the House of Commons since 1918, Mims being the 380th woman to be elected to Parliament, and the first female MP to be elected in the Eastleigh constituency.