A Labour party canvasser in Roundhay, Leeds. Forty-two per cent of Labour’s candidates in the local elections in England are women. Photograph: Joel Goodman/The Guardian
Nearly twice as many men as women are standing in May elections in the UK, according to exclusive research shared with the Guardian by 50:50 Parliament and Democracy Club. Women are 'massively underrepresented' on ballot papers across the UK next week, campaigners say, with men of all political stripes likely to dominate local government.
Gender Gap Across All Elections
Across all elections taking place on 7 May, a third of candidates are women and two-thirds are men, with no party achieving gender parity. In local elections in England, which account for the largest number of candidates, 34% of candidates are female. In the six mayoral elections, 18% of candidates are women; in the Senedd elections, the figure is 38%; and in the Scottish parliament elections it is 36%.
Party Breakdown
Reform UK has the smallest proportion of women on ballot papers in the local elections in England, at 23%. Labour is the closest to achieving gender parity, with 42% of its candidates women, followed by the Green party (41%), the Liberal Democrats (33%) and the Conservatives.
The 20 most common first names for candidates in local elections are all male bar one. Voters are nearly four times as likely to be able to vote for a David (the most common male name) as they are for a Sarah, the only female name to appear, at number 20. Analysis shows there are 516 Davids, 453 Johns, 385 Pauls and 137 Sarahs among the candidates.
Campaigners Speak Out
Lyanne Nicholl, the CEO of 50:50 Parliament, said: 'Women are massively underrepresented on our ballot papers. The fact that only one woman’s name scrapes in at number 20 just shows how male-dominated local politics is.' Previous analysis by the organisation suggests progress toward gender parity has stalled, with women forming about a third of candidates in local elections for the last five years.
Penny East, the chief executive of the Fawcett Society, said the analysis showed democracy was not working for women. 'We are 51% of the population, and our needs and experiences are not going to be represented by an endless supply of Davids and Johns,' she said. East added that online abuse and threats dissuade women from standing, calling for platforms to take women’s safety more seriously.
Regional Variations
In the six mayoral contests next week, Labour has fielded three women, the Lib Dems and Greens have two, the Conservatives one and Reform UK zero. In Wales, 50% of Labour candidates are women, followed by the Greens (46%), Plaid Cymru (45%), the Conservatives (36%), Reform (28%), the Lib Dems (28%) and independent candidates (17%).
The Scottish parliamentary election is the only contest where some parties have more women standing than men, although women trail overall. The Scottish Green party has 60% female candidates, Labour 50%, SNP 45%, the Lib Dems 37%, the Conservatives 29%, Reform 26%, and independent candidates 28%.
Methodology and Impact
The 50:50 Parliament analysis used candidate data gathered by Democracy Club, with genders assigned based on first name if a candidate had not specified their gender. Of a total of 26,813 candidates looked at, 17,687 had male names, 9,028 had female names and 98 could not be assigned a gender.
A record number of female MPs were elected in the 2024 general election, and women now make up 41% of MPs. But Nicholl said the local elections figures showed that women’s progression into the political pipeline is harder, which is likely to have a negative impact on local and national decision-making. 'Men continue to dominate both locally and nationally, and without proper representation women’s views and perspectives will once again be sidelined. This isn’t about political point scoring, this is about women’s representation and how that has benefits for everyone.'
