Labour Women's Network
In 1987 Barbara co-founded the Labour Women’s Network (LWN), and has sat on its Management Committee ever since. LWN was founded by four Labour women, Barbara Follett, Barbara Roche, Hilary De Lyon and Jean Black. They were disappointed and frustrated by the low number of women elected to the House of Commons in the 1987 General Election – just 21 Labour women MPs.
Since then, LWN has gone from strength to strength. They bring together women in the Labour Party who want to see more women in Parliament and at every level of the Party.
LWN is a voluntary group funded entirely by its members and supporters. It exists to encourage, assist and support all women in the Labour Party who wish to stand for public office, and to break down the barriers (in the Party, and in wider politics) that exist to women realising their potential in the Labour Party.
When LWN was founded, women were just 9% of Labour’s MPs – LWN have come a long way, but we have much further to go before we have equal representation.
The 1997 General Election saw a large increase in the number of women in the House of Commons, with 101 Labour women MPs elected, out of a total of 120 women – a huge jump from the 37 Labour women MPs elected in 1992.
The 2015 General Election saw 191 women elected, of that 99 were Labour women, a decrease from the achievement in 1997 but, due to the overall number of Labour MPs has fallen, and the percentage of Labour Women has risen to 42.8%.