Women2Win were delighted that over 200 supporters turned out to celebrate the achievements of women in the Conservative party since the General Election. It has been quite a year for the party with Ruth Davidson becoming leader of the official opposition in the Scottish Parliament and Theresa May becoming Prime Minister.
We were pleased to be joined by Theresa May and Amber Rudd – both active supporters of Women2Win, as well as a number of Candidates, Association Chairs and Party Officials to showcase what Women2Win is really about. We heard from Gillian Keegan, Director of W2W, Nigel Huddleson MP, Amber Rudd MP, Theresa May and ABI man. Theresa May, co-founder of Women2Win, emphasised the need to keep our foot on the pedal: with 20% of current Conservative MPs being women, the job is not done, and we remain committed to getting women into senior positions throughout the party.
Women2Win is campaigning to promote more of the brightest and best women the party has to offer and further convince Conservative associations of the benefits of putting their trust in female candidates. In 2005 there were only 17 Conservative women MPs, representing just 9% of the parliamentary party. Now, after 10 years and two elections, there are 68 Conservative women MPs - over 20%. Women2Win aims to continue increasing the number of Conservative women MPs by providing support, advice and training to women who wish to enter Parliament or get more involved in politics.
"If we want to truly represent the country we need more that 1 in 5 of our MPs to be women..." - Gillian Keegan, Director of Women2Win.