Minister for Women and Equalities
United Kingdom Minister for Women and Equalities | |
---|---|
Government Equalities Office | |
Style | The Right Honourable |
Appointer | The Monarch (on the advice of the Prime Minister) |
Inaugural holder | Harriet Harman |
Formation | 3 May 1997 | (as Minister for Women)
Website | www.equalities.gov.uk/ |
The Minister for Women and Equalities is a ministerial position in the United Kingdom which leads the
The minister is deputised by two parliamentary under-secretaries of state; the parliamentary under-secretary of state for women and the parliamentary under-secretary of state for equalities.
The position was formerly known as; "Minister for Women", "Minister for Women and Equality", and "Minister for Equalities".
History
The position of Minister for Women was created by Tony Blair when he became prime minister as a means of prioritising women's issues across government. Prior to that, there had been an equality unit in the Cabinet Office and a Cabinet committee, which were continued under the leadership of the new minister.[1] When Gordon Brown succeeded Blair, he created the post of Minister for Women and Equality to handle a wider range of equalities issues. The first Minister for Women and, ten years later, the first Minister for Women and Equality was Harriet Harman. On 12 October 2007[2] a new department, the Government Equalities Office, was created to support the minister. When David Cameron became prime minister, he renamed the position to "Minister for Women and Equalities" without a change in its responsibilities. Since its creation, the position has always been held by a minister sitting in Cabinet by virtue of another office (i.e., a Secretary of State or Leader of one of the Houses of Parliament).
In 2004, Lord Northbourne called for the creation of a minister for men.[4] This call was repeated by Nick Fletcher in September 2023, to deal with issues such as reducing male suicide, improving paternity rights and tackling misogyny.[5]
A Council of Europe report[6][7] in September 2021 criticised the Minister for Equalities, stating that rhetoric from the minister is in contradiction with international human rights standards and has contributed to a sharp increase in transphobic crimes since 2015.
The two most recent female Prime Ministers, Theresa May and Liz Truss, served in this position.
List of ministers
Minister for Women | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Cabinet minister | Junior ministers | Term of office | Political party | Ministry | |||||
Social Security Secretary
|
Joan Ruddock | 3 May 1997 | 27 July 1998 | Labour | Blair
(I) | ||||
Margaret Jay Baroness Jay of Paddington Leader of the House of Lords |
Tessa Jowell | 27 July 1998 | 8 June 2001 | ||||||
Trade and Industry Secretary
|
Baroness Morgan of Huyton (2001) Barbara Roche (2001–2003) Jacqui Smith (2003–2005) |
8 June 2001 | 5 May 2005 | Blair
(II) | |||||
Tessa Jowell MP for Dulwich and West Norwood Minister for the Olympics |
Meg Munn | 5 May 2005 | 5 May 2006 | Blair
(III) | |||||
Communities and Local Govt. Secretary
|
5 May 2006 | 28 June 2007 | |||||||
Minister for Women and Equality | |||||||||
Cabinet Minister | Junior ministers | Term of office | Political party | Ministry | |||||
Harriet Harman MP for Camberwell and Peckham Leader of the House of Commons |
Minister of State: Michael Foster (2009–2010)
|
28 June 2007 | 11 May 2010 | Labour | Brown | ||||
Minister for Women and Equalities | |||||||||
Cabinet Minister | Parliamentary Secretary | Term of office | Political party | Ministry | |||||
Theresa May MP for Maidenhead Home Secretary |
Lynne Featherstone (LD) | 12 May 2010 | 4 September 2012 | Coalition (Cons–LD) |
Cameron-Clegg) | ||||
Maria Miller MP for Basingstoke Culture Secretary |
Jo Swinson (LD) Helen Grant (Cons) |
4 September 2012 | 9 April 2014 | ||||||
Ministers for Women and Minister for Equalities | |||||||||
Cabinet Ministers | Junior ministers | Term of office | Political party | Ministry | |||||
Women Nicky Morgan MP for Loughborough Financial Secretary to the Treasury |
Jo Swinson (LD) Helen Grant (Cons) |
9 April 2014 | 15 July 2014 | Coalition (Cons–LD) |
Cameron-Clegg | ||||
Equalities Sajid Javid MP for Bromsgrove Culture Secretary | |||||||||
Minister for Women and Equalities | |||||||||
Cabinet Minister | Junior ministers | Term of office | Political party | Ministry | |||||
Nicky Morgan MP for Loughborough Secretary of State for Education |
Jo Swinson (LD) Helen Grant (Cons) |
15 July 2014 | 8 May 2015 | Coalition (Cons–LD) |
Cameron-Clegg | ||||
Caroline Dinenage | 8 May 2015 | 14 July 2016 | Conservative | Cameron (II) | |||||
Justine Greening MP for Putney Secretary of State for Education |
14 July 2016 | 14 June 2017 | May (I) | ||||||
Nick Gibb (Equalities) Anne Milton (Women) |
14 June 2017 | 8 January 2018 | May (II) | ||||||
Amber Rudd MP for Hastings and Rye Home Secretary |
Baroness Williams of Trafford (Equalities) (Women)
Victoria Atkins |
9 January 2018 | 30 April 2018 | ||||||
International Development Secretary
Defence Secretary |
30 April 2018 | 24 July 2019 | |||||||
Amber Rudd MP for Hastings and Rye Work and Pensions Secretary |
24 July 2019 | 7 September 2019 | Johnson (I) | ||||||
Liz Truss MP for South West Norfolk Foreign Secretary |
10 September 2019 | 14 February 2020 | |||||||
Kemi Badenoch (Equalities) (until 6 July 2022)
Mike Freer (Equalities) (16 September 2021 – 6 July 2022) |
14 February 2020 | 6 September 2022 | Johnson (II) | ||||||
Minister for Equalities | |||||||||
Cabinet Minister | Junior ministers | Term of office | Political party | Ministry | |||||
Nadhim Zahawi MP for Stratford-on-Avon Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Minister for Intergovernmental Relations |
Katherine Fletcher (Women) Baroness Stedman-Scott (Equalities) |
6 September 2022 | 25 October 2022 | Conservative | Truss | ||||
Minister for Women and Equalities | |||||||||
Cabinet Minister | Junior ministers | Term of office | Political party | Ministry | |||||
Kemi Badenoch MP for Saffron Walden Secretary of State for International Trade |
Stuart Andrew (Equalities) Maria Caulfield (Women) |
25 October 2022 | Incumbent | Conservative | Sunak |
See also
External links
References
- ^ Abrams, Fran (4 June 1997). "Harman heads team to put women's issues first". The Independent. Archived from the original on 15 May 2022. Retrieved 18 January 2011.
- ^ "The Transfer of Functions (Equality) Order 2007". legislation.gov.uk. 2007. Retrieved 28 January 2013.
- ^ Mason, Rowena (15 July 2014). "Nicky Morgan's gay-marriage stance causes equalities role confusion... again". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 July 2014.
- ^ "FHM: For Him Minister?". BBC News Online. 3 March 2004. Retrieved 28 January 2013.
- ^ "Sunak urged to appoint minister for men". The Times. 6 September 2023. Retrieved 7 September 2023.
- ^ "Combating rising hate against LGBTI people in Europe". 17 December 2021. Retrieved 7 September 2023.
- ^ "Committee highlights rise in hatred against LGBTI people". 23 September 2021. Retrieved 7 September 2023.