Minister for Women and Equalities
| Minister for Women and Equalities | |
|---|---|
 Royal Arms as used by Her Majesty's Government | |
| Government Equalities Office | |
| Style | The Right Honourable |
| Appointer | Elizabeth II |
| Inaugural holder | Harriet Harman |
| Formation | 3 May 1997 (as Minister for Women) |
| Website | www.equalities.gov.uk/ |
The minister for women and equalities (formerly, Minister for Women, and Minister for Women and Equality) is a ministerial position in the United Kingdom which leads the Government Equalities Office. This is an independent department within the wider Cabinet Office that has responsibility for addressing all forms of discrimination, with particular emphasis on gender inequality. Prior to April 2019, the minister was based at the Home Office, DFID and DfE. Its counterpart in the shadow cabinet is the shadow secretary of state for women and equalities.
The minister is deputised by two parliamentary under-secretaries of state; the parliamentary under-secretary of state for women and the parliamentary under-secretary of state for equalities.
History[]
The position of Minister for Women was created by Tony Blair when he became prime minister as a means of prioritising women's issues across government. Prior to that, there had been an equality unit in the Cabinet Office and a Cabinet committee, which were continued under the leadership of the new minister.[1] When Gordon Brown succeeded Blair, he created the post of Minister for Women and Equality to handle a wider range of equalities issues. The first Minister for Women and, ten years later, the first Minister for Women and Equality was Harriet Harman. On 12 October 2007[2] a new department, the Government Equalities Office was created to support the minister. When David Cameron became prime minister, he gave the position its current name without a change in its responsibilities. Since its creation, the position has always been held by a minister sitting in Cabinet by virtue of another office (i.e., a Secretary of State or Leader of one of the Houses of Parliament).
Justine Greening replaced Nicky Morgan as both Secretary of State for Education and Minister for Women and Equalities when Theresa May was appointed Prime Minister on 13 July 2016. Morgan initially held the title of Minister for Women after the resignation of Maria Miller in April 2014, in conjunction with being Financial Secretary to the Treasury, whilst the Equalities brief was given to Sajid Javid who had replaced Miller as Secretary of State for Culture. While the Women and Equalities briefs were recombined in July 2014, the responsibility for marriage equality was assigned to Nick Boles, who held the title of Minister of State for Skills, Enterprise and Equalities and had a base in both the Education and Business departments. Both splits in responsibilities were due to Nicky Morgan having voted against the legalisation of gay marriage.[3]
Lord Northbourne has called for the creation of a minister to concentrate on issues specific to men.[4]
List of ministers[]
Minister for Women[] | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cabinet minister | Juniors | Term of office | Political party | Prime minister | |||||
| Harriet Harman MP for Camberwell and Peckham (also Social Security Secretary) |
|
Joan Ruddock | 3 May 1997 | 27 July 1998 | Labour | Tony Blair | |||
| The Lady Jay (also Leader of the House of Lords) |
|
Tessa Jowell | 27 July 1998 | 8 June 2001 | |||||
| Patricia Hewitt MP for Leicester West (also Trade and Industry Secretary) |
|
The Lady Morgan (2001) Barbara Roche (2001–03) Jacqui Smith (2003–05) |
8 June 2001 | 5 May 2005 | |||||
| Tessa Jowell MP for Dulwich and West Norwood (also Minister for the Olympics) |
|
Meg Munn | 5 May 2005 | 5 May 2006 | |||||
| Ruth Kelly MP for Bolton West (also Communities and Local Govt. Secretary) |
|
5 May 2006 | 28 June 2007 | ||||||
Minister for Women and Equality[] | |||||||||
| Cabinet Minister | Juniors | Term of office | Political party | Prime Minister | |||||
| Harriet Harman MP for Camberwell and Peckham (also Leader of the House of Commons) |
|
Minister of State: Maria Eagle (2009–10) (jointly with the MoJ) Parliamentary Secretary: Barbara Follett (2007–08) Maria Eagle (2008–09) |
28 June 2007 | 11 May 2010 | Labour | Gordon Brown | |||
Minister for Women and Equalities[] | |||||||||
| Cabinet Minister | Parliamentary Secretary | Term of office | Political party | Prime Minister | |||||
| Theresa May MP for Maidenhead (also Home Secretary) |
|
Lynne Featherstone (LD) | 12 May 2010 | 4 September 2012 | Coalition Cons–LD |
David Cameron (Coalition) | |||
| Maria Miller MP for Basingstoke (also Culture Secretary) |
|
Jo Swinson (LD) Helen Grant (Cons) |
4 September 2012 | 9 April 2014 | |||||
Minister for Women and Minister for Equalities[] | |||||||||
| Cabinet Ministers | Juniors | Term of office | Political party | Prime Minister | |||||
| Minister for Women
Nicky Morgan |
|
Jo Swinson (LD) Helen Grant (Cons) |
9 April 2014 | 15 July 2014 | Coalition Cons–LD |
David Cameron (Coalition) | |||
| Minister for Equalities
Sajid Javid |
| ||||||||
Minister for Women and Equalities[] | |||||||||
| Cabinet Minister | Juniors | Term of office | Political party | Prime Minister | |||||
| Nicky Morgan MP for Loughborough (also Secretary of State for Education) |
|
Jo Swinson (LD) Helen Grant (Cons) |
15 July 2014 | 8 May 2015 | Coalition Cons–LD |
David Cameron (Coalition) | |||
| Caroline Dinenage | 8 May 2015 | 14 July 2016 | Conservative | David Cameron (II) | |||||
| Justine Greening MP for Putney (also Secretary of State for Education) |
|
14 July 2016 | 14 June 2017 | Theresa May (I) | |||||
| Nick Gibb (Minister for Equalities) Anne Milton (Minister for Women) |
14 June 2017 | 8 January 2018 | Theresa May (II) | ||||||
| Amber Rudd MP for Hastings and Rye (also Home Secretary) |
|
Baroness Williams of Trafford (Minister for Equalities) Victoria Atkins (Minister for Women) |
9 January 2018 | 30 April 2018 | |||||
| Penny Mordaunt MP for Portsmouth North (also Defence Secretary) |
|
30 April 2018 | 24 July 2019 | ||||||
| Amber Rudd MP for Hastings and Rye (also Work and Pensions Secretary) |
|
24 July 2019 | 7 September 2019 | Boris Johnson | |||||
| Liz Truss MP for South West Norfolk (also International Trade Secretary; then Foreign Secretary) |
|
10 September 2019 | 14 February 2020 | ||||||
| Kemi Badenoch (Minister for Equalities)
Baroness Berridge (Minister for Women) (until 17 September 2021) |
14 February 2020 | ||||||||
See also[]
External links[]
References[]
- ^ Abrams, Fran (4 June 1997). "Harman heads team to put women's issues first". The Independent. Retrieved 18 January 2011.
- ^ "The Transfer of Functions (Equality) Order 2007". legislation.gov.uk. 2007. Retrieved 28 January 2013.
- ^ Mason, Rowena (15 July 2014). "Nicky Morgan's gay-marriage stance causes equalities role confusion... again". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 July 2014.
- ^ "FHM: For Him Minister?". BBC News Online. 3 March 2004. Retrieved 28 January 2013.
| Minister for Women 1997–2007 |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Minister for Women and Equality 2007–2010 | ||
| Minister for Women and Equalities 2010–2014, 2014–2016 | ||
| Minister for Women 2014 | ||
| Minister for Equalities 2014 | ||
| Minister for Women and Equalities 2017– | ||
- Lists of government ministers of the United Kingdom
- Ministerial offices in the United Kingdom
- Gender equality ministries
- Women in the United Kingdom
- 2007 establishments in the United Kingdom
- 1997 establishments in the United Kingdom
- Government Equalities Office