Just 22.5 percent of MPs are women, 21.7 percent of peers and 17.4 percent of the Cabinet. Women make up 13.3 percent of elected mayors and 14.6 percent of Police and Crime Commissioners.

Britain is falling down the global league table when it comes to the representation of women in politics, as other countries move forward faster: in 2001 we were ranked 33 out of 190 countries, but by the end of 2012 we had fallen to 60th place.

Politics

Women are similarly ‘missing’ in many other spheres of public life: just 36.4 percent of public appointments are women, 13.6 percent of the senior judiciary and 5 percent of Editors of national daily newspapers.

Women’s absence is particularly marked in finance and economy: there are no women at all on the Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee; women hold just 11.1 percent of UK Bank Chief Executive positions, 17.3 percent of FTSE 100 Director positions and make up just 15.1 percent of members of Local Economic Partnerships.

PAY

Current Government’s view

There is legislation in place (section 78, Equality Act 2010), which would force companies to report their gender pay gap. However, the government is not minded to commence these provisions. It believes that a voluntary, business-led initiative will be better at driving the culture change we want to see on this issue, where reporting on a range of workforce information - not just the gender pay gap - becomes the norm. Think, Act, Report encourages companies to publish as much information as possible - including their gender pay gap, if they feel comfortable doing so - but it's a voluntary initiative, and it's for companies themselves to choose what they make public, and where.

AGE & GENDER

PART-TIME/ FULL-TIME