Leslie Abdela: Where are the women in British politics?

Despite the promise of the 1997 general election, the UK still has fewer female MPs than Cambodia On the eve of the big breakthrough for women in the 1997 general election, when female MPs broke the magical 100 barrier, I was in Ethiopia, running a workshop on behalf of the British Council on women in politics. On my way to Addis Ababa airport to catch a flight home to London, I made a pilgrimage to the grave of suffragette Sylvia Pankhurst, in the garden of the Holy Trinity Church near the grave of her great friend, Emperor Haile Selassie. I placed a red flower on her tomb in deference to her socialist beliefs, making a wish that in the upcoming election, for the first time in British history, at least 100 women would be elected to the House of Commons. A record 121 women were elected. The leap forward was due to a big swing... [read full story]