Record number of women MPs win seats in UK election

A record number of women have been elected to the House of Commons in the recently concluded general election in the United Kingdom.

With the results of all the constituencies declared, a total of 220 women were elected as lawmakers, bringing much cheer to women activists. This far surpassed the total of 208 women elected in 2017.

However, despite all these gains, women still make up only one-third of all the members of the parliament, which include a total of 660 seats.

“More women MPs than ever before is very welcome but we are inching forwards, up from 32% to just 34%,” said Sam Smethers, the chief executive of women’s rights group the Fawcett Society.

According to the House of Common Library, more than half of the candidates of the Labour Party were women whereas 31 per cent of the candidates of the Conservative Party were women.

The Boris Johnson-led Conservative Party overwhelmingly won the election, sweeping aside the Labour party in its traditional heartlands. While Johnson’s party won a majority of 80 seats in the Commons, which is the largest ever for the party since 1987, the Labour party suffered its worst election result since the 1930s.