'Broken rung' | If our nation's leaders can't get equality right, what chance does HR have?

Given that the Government’s cabinet of front-benchers are operating in perhaps the most visible workplace in the country, it may surprise many that despite being a supposed champion of equality for the nation, the cabinet itself is woefully lacking in gender equality.

This is nothing new. Under Tony Blair, the proportion of women in cabinet was 36%, compared to their male counterparts. This in itself is far from a model of equality for other places of work across the nation to follow. However, this percentage seems to have continued dropping steadily. Under Prime Minister Theresa May, the number stood at 30%. Under Boris Johnson, it stood at 24%. And now, under our latest PM Rishi Sunak, the percentage of women taking cabinet seats has sunk to around 23%.

The pace is glacial

Understandably, advocacy groups that campaign for gender equality are not best pleased. “Women remain significantly underrepresented in parliament where just 34% MPs are women and, while progress has been made, the pace is glacial,” Amy Whitelock Gibbs, Interim Director of Policy at the Fawcett Society, recently told The Guardian.

“We need to ensure women, from all backgrounds, are not just in the halls of Westminster but also around the cabinet table,” she added.