Women excluded from power in Britain

The number of women in positions of power in Britain has fallen over the last decade according to a new report.

Britain now comes 60th out of 190 countries studied by a coalition of organisations, Counting Women In.

Only Italy, Ireland and Monaco had worse levels of women’s political representation in western Europe than Britain.

In the European parliament Britain comes third from the bottom with 22.5 percent women MEPs.

That’s half the number that Finland and Sweden have.

The report, Sex and Power, states that at the present rate of change “a child born today will be drawing her pension before she has any chance of being equally represented in the parliament of her country.”

It looked at the legal system, parliament, the health service and the media and found that the majority of positions at the top are held by men.

Millions of women are losing their pensions or benefits.

Having women on the powerful Bank of England Monetary Committee or in the judiciary wouldn’t change this.

But the fact that women are still excluded reflects systematic discrimination built into every structure of society.