Frauen im Parlament infographic
Grafik zeigt die Zahl der weiblichen Kandidaten für die Parlamentswahl am 12. Dezember 2019.
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UK WAHL

Frauen im UK Parlament

By Duncan Mil

November 25, 2019 - Eine Rekordzahl weiblicher Kandidaten haben sich für die Parlamentswahl registrieren lassen. Seit sie erstmals 1918 zur Wahl in Britannien antreten durften, haben insgesamt 494 Frauen als Mitglied einen Sitz im Unterhaus eingenommen.

An analysis by the Press Association shows that 1,120 female candidates have registered -- 34 percent of the total -- the highest proportion of women candidates in a British general election in history, up from 29% in 2017 and 26% in 2015.

Finland trailblazed the path for women over a century ago. In the 1907 elections, Finland elected 19 female lawmakers. They made up 9.5% of the elected members, a level that the UK had still not reached in 1992.

In 1918, Britain passed the Parliament (Qualification of Women) Act which allowed women to become MPs for the first time. Seventeen women stood in the December 1918 general election. Constance Markievicz was the sole woman elected but as a member of Sinn Féin, she did not take her seat at Westminster.

On December 1, 1909, Nancy Astor became the first woman to sit in the Commons after winning a by-election in Plymouth Sutton for the Conservatives.

Women did not make up more than 10 percent of candidates until 1979 when Margaret Thatcher became Britain’s first woman prime minister. That year, 11 percent of candidates were female. However, the 1979 election produced only 19 women out of the 635 members of parliament, just 2.9 percent.

There were 206 women in the House of Commons in the last parliament -- a record high of 32 percent.

Sources
PUBLISHED: 25/11/2019; STORY: Graphic News; PICTURES: Getty Images
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