History of the Campaign for Gender Balance

The Campaign for Gender Balance (formerly the Gender Balance Task Force) is the group set up by the Party's Federal Executive committee (FE) to achieve the targets for women agreed by the Party at the Federal conference held in Bournemouth in September 2001.

It brings together all of the bodies within the party that influence selection and election procedures and all those which are working to improve the representation of women. The targets include 40% of our new MPs being women after the next election and an additional 150 women on the approved list.

We report to every meeting of the FE and to every Federal Conference, and have been offered money and support by the FE.

The Campaign for Gender Balance has not been tasked with dealing with the whole range of equalities issues, but we are keen to promote women for whom ethnicity, sexual orientation or disability are issues!

The full group meets once every three months. Smaller meetings are held more frequently for management of specific projects, and much use is made of small e-groups to facilitate quick decision-making across the country.

The Chair is currently Rosalyn Gordon, who was a Vice Chair from 2005 - 2008. The Vice Chairs are Dinti Batstone and Baroness Jane Bonham-Carter. In the past, Jo Swinson MP, Helen Bailey, Sandra Gidley MP and Baroness Harris of Richmond have served as Chair, and Baroness Walmsley and Candy Piercy as Vice Chairs.

Links

Text of 2001 motion.

Text of 2005 motion.