Women’s organisations from across the UK have come together to call on the UK Government to enact Section 106 of the Equality Act 2010, a provision that they say could transform transparency and equality in political representation.
Section 106 gives UK ministers the power to require political parties to collect and publish anonymised data on the protected characteristics of their election candidates, including those standing for the UK Parliament, the Scottish Parliament, and the Senedd.
The coalition of women’s organisations – Women's Equality Network Wales, Engender (Scotland), Centenary Action, and 50:50 Northern Ireland – is urging the UK Government to commit to enacting Section 106.
Victoria Vasey, Director of Women’s Equality Network (WEN) Wales, said:
“The enactment of Section 106 is a long overdue step towards more fairness in our democracy. We currently have limited data to understand where on the candidate journey women are being left behind, and little to no data on women who experience intersecting discrimination. While parties in Wales have been encouraged by the Welsh Government to publish candidate diversity data for the 2026 Senedd elections, this data will only be consistent and robust if collecting and publishing it becomes a requirement enshrined in law. Enacting Section 106 would provide much-needed transparency, accountability, and a robust tool for measuring and comparing progress.”
Helen Pankhurst CBE, Centenary Action Convener, said:
“Despite historic gains at the last general election, women remain underrepresented, making up just 41% of MPs, even though they constitute over half the population. To change this, we need greater representation among candidates and increasing transparency and accountability in candidate selection is key to this.
“We’ve long campaigned for Section 106 of the Equality Act to be enacted as a vital step for driving progress towards a gender-equal Parliament. We welcome the Ministerial commitment to Section 106 and look forward to working together to make it happen before the next general election.”
