Rishi Sunak has the worst record on appointing women from his party to the House of Lords of any prime minister since John Major, with female Conservative peers making up only 17% of those recommended by him, a report has found.
The analysis, from the campaign group Unlock Democracy, found just four women were appointed out of 23 new Tory peers created during his time in office.
Sunak has been responsible for putting forward lists of peerages suggested by his predecessors Liz Truss and Boris Johnson when they resigned. But he has also made a number of ad hoc appointments of peers of his own and only two out of 13 – or 15% of them – are women.
Sunak’s female appointment rates to the House of Lords compares with 37.5% of Tory peers appointed under Truss, 20.9% by appointed under Johnson, 46.2% under May, and 30% under Cameron.
Under Labour, 18% of party peer appointments under Gordon Brown were women but he also had a Labour list of resignation peerages of which half were women, while about 24% of Labour peer appointments under Tony Blair were female.
There are 233 women out of 796 members of the House of Lords, or 29%, making it even less gender balanced than the House of Commons, where 226 out of 650 MPs are women – or 35%.
The report by Unlock Democracy, published on International Women’s Day, found that if every woman ever to have been made a peer was still alive and sitting in the House of Lords today, men would still comfortably outnumber women by nearly two to one.
Although female representation in the Lords has risen each decade since 1960, when it stood at 0.6%, the report notes that the pace has slowed in recent years, with the number of women peers rising 1% since 2020.
According to the analysis, in the 16 months since Rishi Sunak became prime minister, only 27% of his overall peerage appointments, including those from all parties and crossbenchers, have gone to women – the lowest proportion since Tony Blair was prime minister, when the figure was 23.5%.
The trend in the proportion of female appointments has been downward since peaking with Theresa May, under whose premiership 39.5% of peerages went to women.
Unlock Democracy said the simplest, and quickest way to redress the balance would be for the prime minister only to appoint female peers – except in exceptional circumstances – until the House reaches 50/50.
Helena Kennedy KC, the president of Unlock Democracy and a Labour member of the House of Lords, said: “Not one of the 14 prime ministers able to do so has nominated more women than men for peerages. As this new report shows, even in the best decade, nearly twice as many men were being appointed as women.
“This matters, not just in terms of legitimacy, but also for the way we make decisions. Important perspectives are missing in debates because for nearly 70 years the Lords has not been able to draw on the full talent pool available.
“The House of Lords Act of 1999 – which I campaigned for as part of Charter 88 – delivered a dramatic change in terms of the proportion of female to male peers, but progress has slowed.
“Fortunately, the prime minister has it in his power, at the stroke of a pen, to do something about this. I would urge Mr Sunak to take this simple step and mark International Women’s Day with a promise to appoint only female peers from now on.”
Women were first allowed to sit in the House of Lords from 1958 with the passage of the Life Peerages Act. Before then, the seats were purely hereditary, passing down the male line only. Parliamentary data shows that only 348 of the 1,584 life peers to have been appointed have been women – a ratio of more than four men to every woman.
Lynne Featherstone, a former equalities minister and a Lib Dem peer, said: “It is unacceptable that this chamber – which draws on the skills and expertise of those who have contributed beyond the norm to our lives – perpetuates the old male and stale dominant status quo … The woeful gender imbalance of the Lords diminishes its potential for wisdom, knowledge and experience. It needs to be addressed – and fast.”
A government official said: “We are keen to ensure that public appointments and dignities represent the United Kingdom in all its forms, but we do not support rigid quotas.”
Sunak’s wife, Akshata Murty, held a special mentoring session in No 10 to honour International Women’s Day with female role models and business leaders for girls and young women.
Before the event, she spoke of her own mother, Sudha, 73, who was on Friday appointed to serve a term in the upper chamber of India’s parliament – the equivalent of the UK’s House of Lords.
Murty said: “I know the phenomenal work that goes into running a business. My mother’s endeavours in science, technology, engineering and maths allowed her to push boundaries both academically and professionally and gave her a ringside seat to the technological revolution.
“I hope other women and girls are inspired by role models around them to pursue their own passions.”
Most of India’s upper chamber is elected but the president nominates about 12 people a year who are considered high achievers to serve six-year terms.
Sunak marked International Women’s Day with a reception for inspirational female leaders in Downing Street. “I am committed to delivering the long-term change needed to build a brighter future for women and girls,” he said.
