Michelle Donelan: Quality, not quotas – why we need to encourage (not coerce) women into politics

Michelle Donelan contested Wentworth and Dearne at the General Election and is a member of the Conservative Future National Executive.

Last week I appeared on Channel 4 news alongside Lesley Abdela, discussing females in politics in the wake of just four women being appointed into the new Cabinet. 

The argument for fixed quotas of women in Parliament has re-emerged and been seized upon by the media and campaign groups claiming that there is serious lack of female representation in the party hierarchy. I disagree.  I would much rather see quality than quantity – a mantra I feel Gordon Brown failed to acknowledge as he ‘window dressed’ his Cabinet in a desperate attempt to hold the ‘progressive ground’.

We have four very strong inspiring women including Theresa May as Home Secretary and Britain’s first Muslim Cabinet member Sayeeda Warsi as Party Chairman – and I hope I don’t need to remind readers that we gave the United Kingdom its first female Prime Minister.

Tackling gender inequalities in Parliament is important, but we must not let it consume us – where would it stop, for ethnic minorities, for religious representation, for set minimums for homosexuals in Parliament?  It would turn into government by percentages.