Minister for Women and Equalities
| United Kingdom Minister for Women and Equalities | |
|---|---|
.svg?lang=en) Royal Arms as used by His Majesty's Government | |
.jpg?lang=en) | |
| Currently Department for Education | |
| Style | The Right Honourable |
| Appointer | The Monarch (on the advice of the Prime Minister) |
| Inaugural holder | Harriet Harman |
| Formation | 3 May 1997 (as Minister for Women) |
| Website | [1] |
Minister for Women and Equalities is a ministerial position in the United Kingdom currently appointed to the Department for Education.[1] The minister leads the Office for Equality and Opportunity (formerly known as Government Equalities Office) which is part of the Cabinet Office. Its counterpart in the shadow cabinet is the shadow minister for women and equalities.
The position has also been known as Minister for Women, Minister for Women and Equality and Minister for Equalities.
History
[edit]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.[2] 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. When David Cameron became prime minister, he renamed the position to Minister for Women and Equalities 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).
In April 2014 (after the resignation of Maria Miller), Nicky Morgan was initially appointed to the role of Minister for Women in conjunction with being Financial Secretary to the Treasury, attending Cabinet. Sajid Javid who had replaced Miller as Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport was appointed to the separate role of Minister for Equalities. 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 equal marriage.[3]
The two most recent female Prime Ministers, Theresa May and Liz Truss, served in this position.
Since April 2019, the Government Equalities Office has been permanently based within the Cabinet Office.[4] In October 2024, the Office was renamed the Office for Equality and Opportunity.[5]
The Minister for Women and Equalities and predecessor cabinet ministers since 1997 have been supported by one or more parliamentary under-secretaries of state or ministers of state. These ministers are typically appointed to the department that the Minister for Women and Equalities leads by virtue of their other Cabinet appointment. Since July 2024, under Bridget Phillipson (Minister for Women and Equalities and Secretary of State for Education), all women and equalities ministers have been appointed to the Department for Education.[6]
Women and equalities ministers are typically concurrently appointed to another ministerial role, often in another department. For example, in February 2020, Kemi Badenoch was appointed jointly Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury in HM Treasury and Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Minister for Equalities) in the Department for International Trade (under Liz Truss as Minister for Women and Equalities and Secretary of State for International Trade).[7]
List of ministers
[edit].jpg?lang=en)
.jpg?lang=en)
.jpg?lang=en)
.jpg?lang=en)
.jpg?lang=en)
.jpg?lang=en)
_2.jpg?lang=en)
Timeline
[edit]
See also
[edit]External links
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ "Minister for Women and Equalities". GOV.UK. Retrieved 29 October 2025.
- ^ Abrams, Fran (4 June 1997). "Harman heads team to put women's issues first". The Independent. Archived from the original on 15 May 2022. Retrieved 18 January 2011.
- ^ Mason, Rowena (15 July 2014). "Nicky Morgan's gay-marriage stance causes equalities role confusion... again". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 July 2014.
- ^ "Government Equalities Office to join Cabinet Office". GOV.UK. 16 November 2018. Retrieved 28 October 2025.
- ^ "Office for Equality and Opportunity to break down barriers to opportunity". gov.uk. 9 October 2024. Retrieved 28 October 2025.
- ^ "Ministerial Appointments: 8 October 2024". GOV.UK. 8 October 2024. Retrieved 28 October 2025.
- ^ "Ministerial appointments: February 2020". GOV.UK. 13 February 2020. Retrieved 28 October 2025.
| Women (1997–2007) | | |
|---|---|---|
| Women and equality (2007–2010) | ||
| Women and equalities (2010–2014) | ||
| Women (2014) | ||
| Minister for Equalities (2014) | ||
| Women and equalities (2014–2022) | ||
| Equalities (2022) | ||
| Women and equalities (2022–present) | ||
