Working for Women? The Emergence, Organisation and Impact of the Women’s Equality Party

Studies of women’s political parties suggest that these parties are a key (if under-researched) form of women’s movement organization that can have transformative effects on the representativeness and inclusivity of a political system. Furthermore, they provide a means by which to encourage the engagement of those active in informal, but not electoral, politics. Others, however, are more skeptical of the potential impact of women’s parties, pointing to their frequently short-lived nature and their poor electoral fortunes, or questioning whether they drain women’s movement activists away from more important mainstream parties. This paper evaluates these questions in the context of the recently launched Women’s Equality Party (WEP) in the UK. WEP was founded with the aims of not only exposing the under-representation of women and women’s interests in mainstream politics in the UK, but also with the intention to do something about it. The party will field candidates at upcoming regional and mayoral elections in 2016 and has already published a policy document, all while studiously avoiding the use of, or engagement with, the label feminist. Drawing on original member survey and interview data from the party in its early stages of development, this paper evaluates the origins and organization of the Women’s Equality Party, mapping its emerging structure and assessing the party’s relationship to and with the women’s movement. Examining the party’s policy documents and initial electoral results, the paper evaluates the influence of WEP thus far and assesses the party’s impact on the dynamics of party competition in the UK. Overall, we find that the electoral impact of WEP is constrained by a number of systemic and party political factors, including the obstacle of a first-past-the-post electoral system, and the gradual feminization of mainstream parties in the UK. Yet, despite not being able to present an electoral challenge, we argue that WEP has still managed to make inroads into the UK political debate, as well as mobilise and engage women’s political participation, pointing to the need for a broader understanding of what makes a women’s party politically effective.