MP calls for more women in politics

9:15am Monday 7th July 2008

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MP Lynne Featherstone has joined protesters to call for more women in Parliament.

To mark last week's 80th anniversary of women getting the vote, Ms Featherstone, MP for Hornsey and Wood Green, posed outside the Houses of Parliament with the Electoral Reform Society dressed in 1920s outfits.

Ms Featherstone said: "When I see the row after row of white male faces on the benches in Parliament it really makes me want to chain myself to something.

"I resist the urge, but do all that I can to encourage women and people from different backgrounds to come forward and play their part in making decisions.

"All parties need to do more on this. It simply cannot be another 80 years before we see real parity in the numbers of women in Parliament. It's not about feminism, just plain old equality."

The Representation of the People Act as passed on July 2, 1928, giving women the vote from the age of 21.