Energy committee of MPs singled out for lack of female witnesses

Women are less likely to be invited to give evidence to the Energy and Climate Change Committee than any other Parliamentary select committee, a study from the London School of Economics has found.

Two witnesses out of 32 (6 per cent) called before the all-male committee of MPs scrutinising energy policy were female, according to research unit Democratic AuditUK.

That was the lowest representation of women of all the Commons, Lords and joint committees examined over a four-week period in October and November.

Across the piece, 25 per cent of those appearing before parliamentarians were women. Among independent experts, that fell to 17 per cent.

LSE policy analyst Richard Berry said: “Committees do not have a completely free hand when choosing who will appear before them to give evidence. However, gender disparities do exist among witnesses that committees have much more control over – such as independent experts. This suggests that committees are contributing to the problem of gender inequality as well as being subject to its effects.”

Of those called before the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, 17 per cent were women. The Science and Technology Committee managed 42 per cent, boosted by the fact “women in STEM careers” was the subject of the inquiry sessions. Only the Mental Capacity Act 2005 Committee heard from more women than men, by two to one.

Democratic Audit blog managing editor Sean Kippin said: “Although we only examined a short period of committee activity, the fact that men were over-represented among the witnesses of almost all committees across both Houses of Parliament and among every type of witness suggests this is an ongoing problem.

“Committees need to consider what steps they can take to address this, beginning with the setting of milestones for increasing the proportion of female witnesses and regular monitoring.”

Tim Yeo, chair of the ECC Committee, said: “This research has been noted with interest. Like other Select Committees, we try to be gender neutral in our selection of witnesses. Our ability to choose is sometimes constrained by the gender balance of experts in our area, and organisations make their own decisions about who should give evidence on their behalf. But we recognise that more could be done to improve our witness diversity, and we welcome suggestions.”