Woah!
A historic number of women will take their seats in the House of Commons when they return to Parliament
More than 200 female MPs were elected in yesterday’s General Election which was held on the 104th anniversary of the death of suffragette Emily Wilding Davidson.
A record number of women also stood for election, and according to figures compiled by Democracy Club and the Telegraph, just over 1 in 3 candidates were female.
In 2015 records were broken when 191 women were elected in a single election and then five more were elected in by-elections taking the total for the Parliament to 196.
The re-election of The Green Party’s joint leader, Caroline Lucas, in Brighton Pavilion took the number over 200, doubling her majority in the process, while Home Secretary Amber Rudd narrowly held onto her seat with a majority of just 346.
Preet Gill also became the first female Sikh MP after being elected in Birmingham Edgbaston with a majority of 6,917.
Speaking to the BBC Bhai Amrik Singh, chair of the Sikh Federation, said: “We are delighted to have the first Sikh woman MP in Preet Kaur Gill in Birmingham, Edgbaston.
He added: “She will be a fantastic MP, a credit to the Sikh community and an excellent role model.”
In 1981 Constance Markievicz was the first woman to be elected to the Commons after the Parliament (Qualification of Women) Act was passed which allowed women to stand and be elected as MPs. She did not take her seat however as she was a member of Sinn Fein.
The first woman to take her seat in the Commons was Conservative, Nancy Astor, after winning a by election in December 1919 in Plymouth Sutton constituency.
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