Exploring female representation in politics
18 March 2009 (updated on 22 April 2010)
Students and politicians are meeting to recommend ways of increasing the number of women in Parliament
A group of female MPs will meet with 150 girls from local schools on Thursday to discuss the disparity between the representation of women in the House of Commons and the UK population at large.
A number of MPs including Anne Begg and Fiona Mactaggart as well as the Lord Speaker Baroness Hayman will lead the secondary school students in discussion about female representation in politics. The whole group will also come together for a question and answer session chaired by BBC journalist Sarah Montague, presenter on the Today programme.
Female representation in Parliament is one of the issues currently being considered by the Speaker's Conference, a special committee set up by the House of Commons in November 2008. Recommendations that come out of the event will be presented to the Speaker's Conference as written evidence.
The event will be held at Portcullis House on Thursday 19 March and has been organised by Parliament's Education Service.