Despite decades of progress, why are women still shut out of political power?

As of 2025, women are under-represented in local councils, Parliament, and advisory positions that influence the laws regarding their safety, healthcare and reproductive rights.

Despite claims that representation is “improving”, the majority of the laws are still made by men.

Men continue to dominate policymaking in the UK. According to the Institute for Government:

• Just 39% of MPs in the House of Commons are female.
  
• In the House of Lords, women hold just 31% of seats.
  

Even though there are progressively more women in Parliament today compared to previous years, there is still an imbalance between the two genders.

Working-class women, women of colour, and women with disabilities continue to be underrepresented in the legal and policymaking sectors.

The result? They continue to be overlooked, underfunded and ignored in parliament, whereas men have full power to construct laws that affect us.

The Real-World Cost of the Gender Imbalance for Women in Politics

Only 2.1% of publicly funded health research in women’s healthcare focuses on female-specific conditions.

Men continue to misdiagnose, undertreat, or dismiss women, particularly those suffering from chronic pain, reproductive health issues, or menopause.

In maternity & childcare, the UK ranks among the most expensive countries for childcare.

Maternity discrimination impacts three in four working mothers. And despite endless debate, policy support for parents lags far behind demand.

Women’s safety laws on street harassment also remain a problem in society today.

Domestic violence services are underfunded, and conviction rates for rape continue to plummet.

The political will to act often doesn’t exist because the people making the decisions don’t live with the consequences.

As Labour MP Stella Creasy says, “It’s not about just getting women elected. It’s about staying, being heard, and not having to shrink to be taken seriously.”

So, what is standing in the way of women?

• Online abuse and harassment disproportionately target women in politics, driving many away.

• They still have the primary responsibility for caretaking, which makes it more difficult to advocate for greater women’s involvement in policymaking.

• They frequently lack access to networks and money, and political parties continue to assign men to safer positions.

Organisations like 50:50 Parliament are attempting to change that through structural reform and mentoring, but progress is still slow in a system never designed with women in mind.

A Warning from The Handmaid’s Tale?

In The Handmaid’s Tale, the stripping away of women’s rights begins with policy.
First, women lose access to money, then to their voices, and then to their bodies. It’s fiction, yes, but is this becoming our reality?

People in the UK are voicing similar concerns about new regulations aimed at trans people, particularly trans women.

Laws that limit access to gender-affirming care, impose limitations on legal recognition, and argue over who is legally recognised as female are all examples of the same trend in governmental control.

These rules don’t just affect transgender people; they also reinforce strict gender roles and make being a woman something that needs to be controlled.

Like Gilead, the government decides who can talk, whose identities are real, and whose bodies are real. 

When those in power dictate womanhood based on fear or ideology, they tighten control over the handmaids and strip away the rights of anyone who doesn’t fit their definition.

When they are left out of politics, policy becomes dystopian.

Why It Can’t Be Ignored

We’re living in a time where women’s rights are under attack globally.

These measures continue to strip the quality of women’s services when tech platforms censor women’s health content.

This isn’t just about visibility. It’s about power. Because if women aren’t writing the laws, we are written out of them.

The laws governing our bodies, choices, and futures cannot continue to be written without us.

If women aren’t in the room, we’ll build our own and write the rules ourselves.