Minister for Women and Equalities
The minister for women and equalities is a ministerial position in the United Kingdom which leads the Government Equalities Office. This is an independent department within the wider Cabinet Office that has responsibility for addressing all forms of discrimination, with particular emphasis on gender inequality. Prior to April 2019, the minister was based at the Home Office, DFID and DfE. Its counterpart in the shadow cabinet is the shadow secretary of state for women and equalities.
| Minister for Women and Equalities | |
|---|---|
Royal Arms as used by His Majesty's Government | |
| Government Equalities Office | |
| Style | The Right Honourable |
| Appointer | The Crown |
| Inaugural holder | Harriet Harman |
| Formation | 3 May 1997 (as Minister for Women) |
| Website | www.equalities.gov.uk/ |
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 edit
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).
Justine Greening replaced Nicky Morgan as both Secretary of State for Education and Minister for Women and Equalities when Theresa May was appointed Prime Minister on 13 July 2016. Morgan initially held the title of Minister for Women after the resignation of Maria Miller in April 2014, in conjunction with being Financial Secretary to the Treasury, whilst the Equalities brief was given to Sajid Javid who had replaced Miller as Secretary of State for Culture. While the Women and Equalities briefs were recombined in July 2014, the responsibility for marriage equality was assigned to Nick Boles, who held the title of Minister of State for Skills, Enterprise and Equalities and had a base in both the Education and Business departments. Both splits in responsibilities were due to Nicky Morgan having voted against the legalisation of gay marriage.[3]
In 2004, Lord Northbourne called for the creation of a minister to concentrate on issues specific to men.[4] This call was repeated by Nick Fletcher in September of 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 of 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 edit
Minister for Women edit | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cabinet minister | Juniors | Term of office | Political party | Prime minister | |||||
| Harriet Harman MP for Camberwell and Peckham Social Security Secretary | Joan Ruddock | 3 May 1997 | 27 July 1998 | Labour | Tony Blair (I) | ||||
| Margaret Jay Baroness Jay of Paddington Leader of the House of Lords | Tessa Jowell | 27 July 1998 | 8 June 2001 | ||||||
| Patricia Hewitt MP for Leicester West Trade and Industry Secretary | The Lady Morgan (2001) Barbara Roche (2001–2003) Jacqui Smith (2003–2005) | 8 June 2001 | 5 May 2005 | Tony Blair (II) | |||||
| Tessa Jowell MP for Dulwich and West Norwood Minister for the Olympics | Meg Munn | 5 May 2005 | 5 May 2006 | Tony Blair (III) | |||||
| Ruth Kelly MP for Bolton West Communities and Local Govt. Secretary | 5 May 2006 | 28 June 2007 | |||||||
Minister for Women and Equality edit | |||||||||
| Cabinet Minister | Juniors | Term of office | Political party | Prime Minister | |||||
| Harriet Harman MP for Camberwell and Peckham Leader of the House of Commons | Minister of State: Maria Eagle (2009–2010) (jointly with the Ministry of Justice) Parliamentary Secretary: Barbara Follett (2007–2008) Maria Eagle (2008–2009) Michael Foster (2009–2010) | 28 June 2007 | 11 May 2010 | Labour | Gordon Brown(I) | ||||
Minister for Women and Equalities edit | |||||||||
| Cabinet Minister | Parliamentary Secretary | Term of office | Political party | Prime Minister | |||||
| Theresa May MP for Maidenhead Home Secretary | Lynne Featherstone (LD) | 12 May 2010 | 4 September 2012 | Coalition Cons–LD | David Cameron (Coalition) | ||||
| Maria Miller MP for Basingstoke Culture Secretary | Jo Swinson (LD) Helen Grant (Cons) | 4 September 2012 | 9 April 2014 | ||||||
Ministers for Women and Equalities edit | |||||||||
| Cabinet Ministers | Juniors | Term of office | Political party | Prime Minister | |||||
| 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 | David Cameron (Coalition) | ||||
| Equalities Sajid Javid MP for Bromsgrove Culture Secretary | |||||||||
Minister for Women and Equalities edit | |||||||||
| Cabinet Minister | Juniors | Term of office | Political party | Prime Minister | |||||
| 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 | David Cameron (Coalition) | ||||
| Caroline Dinenage | 8 May 2015 | 14 July 2016 | Conservative | David Cameron (II) | |||||
| Justine Greening MP for Putney Secretary of State for Education | 14 July 2016 | 14 June 2017 | Theresa May (I) | ||||||
| Nick Gibb (Equalities) Anne Milton (Women) | 14 June 2017 | 8 January 2018 | Theresa May (II) | ||||||
| Amber Rudd MP for Hastings and Rye Home Secretary | Baroness Williams of Trafford (Equalities) Victoria Atkins (Women) | 9 January 2018 | 30 April 2018 | ||||||
| Penny Mordaunt MP for Portsmouth North 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 | Boris 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 | Boris Johnson (II) | ||||||
Minister for Equalities edit | |||||||||
| Cabinet Minister | Juniors | Term of office | Political party | Prime Minister | |||||
| 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 | Liz Truss (I) | ||||
Minister for Women and Equalities edit | |||||||||
| Cabinet Minister | Juniors | Term of office | Political party | Prime Minister | |||||
| Kemi Badenoch MP for Saffron Walden Secretary of State for International Trade | Stuart Andrew (Equalities) Maria Caulfield (Women) | 25 October 2022 | Incumbent | Conservative | Rishi Sunak (I) | ||||
See also edit
External links edit
- Ministers in the Labour Governments: 1997–2010
References edit
- ^ 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.
- ^ {{cite news|url=https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/sunak-urged-to-appoint-minister-for-men-to-improve-society-fcfmmmw76%7Ctitle=Sunak urged to appoint minister for men|publisher=The Times|date=6 September 2023|access-date=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.