Women’s History Month in the House of Lords
31 March 2023
This Women’s History Month, discover how members of the House of Lords are using their expertise to campaign for women’s rights.
The House of Lords is made up of a diverse group of people from different backgrounds and professions across the UK. As part of the second chamber of Parliament, they bring a variety of experience and knowledge to help shape laws and challenge government action.
Read on to find out more about women members and the work of the House.
Women in the Lords
Women members make up an important part of the House’s membership and make a significant contribution to the work of the House of Lords. Women have dominated the House's leadership roles in recent years: in the last 22 years there have been six women Leaders of the House of Lords (and three men) and the first two Lord Speakers were women.
Life Peerages Act 1958
Before 1958, the House of Lords was entirely male. Most members were male hereditary peers and the Life Peerages Act, which allowed new members to be appointed for their experience and expertise, made it possible for women to sit in the House of Lords for the first time.
Pressing the government for action
Throughout the month, members pressed the government on a range of issues relating to women in questions and debates.
Baroness Donaghy quizzed the government on improving women’s safety from domestic violence and on the streets and Baroness Twycross asked why women are paid less than men and what steps the government are taking to address the issue.
On Friday 10 March, members marked International Women’s Day with a debate on supporting the education of women and girls in the UK and worldwide.
Bringing about change
Engage with the House of Lords
The House of Lords has a track record of making an impact and bringing about change. Many members raise external campaigns in questions to the government, use briefings from charities and organisations in debates and work closely with small charity campaigners on changes to legislation.
Baroness Sugg and child marriage survivor Payzee Mahmod highlighted their work in the Lords to make child marriage illegal.
Lord Speaker's Corner
Baroness Morgan of Cotes speaks to the Lord Speaker about her work convincing government to make changes to legislation.
'I put an amendment down through the Domestic Violence Bill, which was about intimate image abuse. And that was passed with the support of, we work with ministers and the support of the House, that was important. Now I'm working on the Online Safety Bill to put down various amendments including one in relation to violence against women and girls.’
Learn with the Lords
As part of our engagement programme, Learn with the Lords, hear Baroness Grey-Thompson share her experiences as a woman in politics and Mari Takayanagi from the Parliamentary Archives discuss the history of women in the House of Lords.
Get involved
Follow on Twitter
Visit @UKHouseofLords on Twitter for highlights of each day’s work in the House.
Follow the hashtag #HouseOfLords for what’s happening, or #LordsQs for details of what topics members are pressing the government on at the start of each Monday to Thursday.
Other social media
Follow the House of Lords on Facebook, Flickr, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube for highlights, photos and videos from the UK Parliament’s second chamber.
Image: House of Lords / photography by Roger Harris
