Men still dominate UK Cabinet despite recent reshuffle
Although last week’s UK government reshuffle was intended to appoint more women into the cabinet, female ministers still account for less than a quarter of cabinet seats.
On 15 July, UK Prime Minister David Cameron shook up his cabinet with the "under-representation” of women in mind.
Several male Conservative ministers were ousted from the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition cabinet, including former education secretary Michael Gove and former environment secretary Owen Paterson.
However, of the new lineup of 22 cabinet ministers, a mere five are women – only two more than before the reshuffle.
Despite years of gender equality regulations, the proportion of women in supervisory or board positions remains notably much lower than that of men.
The fact that the proportion of female ministers of state is so small is arguably very concerning. IZA World of Labor’s Ghazala Azmat discusses empirical evidence which shows that gender diversity in decision making teams leads to broader representation of preferences, and helps to promote equal opportunities.
It appears that encouragement is a key issue for many prospective female ministers. Ghana MP Laadi Ayii Ayamba is reported to have said that: “We need more encouragement for women to come forward. It’s very difficult, because of all the mudslinging and insults.”
Nonetheless, the formal means of placing more women in leading positions are often open to criticism. Conservative MP Richard Drax accused the new female appointments in the UK cabinet of being tokenistic, saying that women “must [get to the top] on merit, and not just because they are women and a quota needs to be filled.”
IZA World of Labor’s Nina Smith discusses the issue of gender quotas at length. She notes that, although gender quotas can sometimes overshadow candidate experience and skills, a greater proportion of women in leading decision making teams has a positive effect on the career development of women across the company, thus encouraging greater diversity in the long-term.
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Related articles:
Gender diversity in teams, by Ghazala Azmat
Gender quotas on boards of directors, by Nina Smith