Minister for Women and Equalities is a ministerial position in the United Kingdom currently appointed to the Department for Education. 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
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. 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.
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. In October 2024, the Office was renamed the Office for Equality and Opportunity.
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.
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).
List of ministers
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
! colspan=12 |
Minister for Women
|- style="height:1em"
! colspan=3 | Cabinet minister
! colspan=2 | Term of office
! colspan=4 | Junior ministers
! Political party
! colspan=2 | Ministry
|- style="height:1em"
! style="background-color:" |
| 89x89px
| Harriet Harman<br/>
| 3 May 1997
| 27 July 1998
| style="background-color:" |
| colspan=3 | Joan Ruddock
| rowspan=7 | Labour
| rowspan=2 style="background-color:" |
| rowspan=2 | Blair
(I)
|- style="height:1em"
! style="background-color:" |
| 80x80px
| Margaret Jay, Baroness Jay of Paddington<br/>
| 27 July 1998
| 8 June 2001
| style="background-color:" |
| colspan=3 | Tessa Jowell
|- style="height:1em"
! rowspan=2 style="background-color:" |
| rowspan=2 | 60px
| rowspan=2 | Patricia Hewitt<br/><br/>
| rowspan=2 | 8 June 2001
| rowspan=2 | 5 May 2005
| style="background-color:" |
| Barbara Roche<br/>
| style="background-color:" |
| Baroness Morgan of Huyton<br/>
| rowspan=2 style="background-color:" |
| rowspan=2 | Blair
(II)
|-
| style="background-color:" |
| colspan=3 | Barbara Roche<br/><br/>Jacqui Smith<br/>
|- style="height:1em"
! style="background-color:" |
| 60px
| Tessa Jowell<br/><br/>
| 5 May 2005
| 5 May 2006
| rowspan=2 style="background-color:" |
| rowspan=2 colspan=3 | Meg Munn
| rowspan=2 style="background-color:" |
| rowspan=2 |Blair
(III)
|- style="height:1em"
! style="background-color:" |
| 60px
| Ruth Kelly<br/><br/>
| 5 May 2006
| 28 June 2007
|- style="height:1em"
! colspan=12 |
Minister for Women and Equality
|- style="height:1em"
! colspan=3 | Cabinet minister
! colspan=2 | Term of office
! colspan=4 | Junior ministers
! Political party
! colspan=2 | Ministry
|- style="height:1em"
! rowspan=2 style="background-color:" |
| rowspan=2 | 68x68px
| rowspan=2 | Harriet Harman<br/>
| rowspan=2 | 28 June 2007
| rowspan=2 | 11 May 2010
| style="background-color:" |
| colspan=3 | Barbara Follett<br/><br/>Maria Eagle<br/>
| rowspan=2 | Labour
| rowspan=2 style="background-color:" |
| rowspan=2 | Brown
|-
| style="background-color:" |
| Maria Eagle<br/>
| style="background-color:" |
| Michael Foster<br/>
|- style="height:1em"
! colspan=12 |
Minister for Women and Equalities
|- style="height:1em"
! colspan=3 | Cabinet minister
! colspan=2 | Term of office
! colspan=4 | Junior ministers
! Political party
! colspan=2 | Ministry
|- style="height:1em"
! style="background-color:" |
| 60px
| Theresa May<br/>
| 12 May 2010
| 4 September 2012
| style="background-color:" |
| colspan=3 | Lynne Featherstone
| rowspan=2 | Coalition<br/>'
| rowspan=2 style="background-color:#ddd" |
| rowspan=2 | Cameron-Clegg
|- style="height:1em"
! style="background-color:" |
| 85x85px
| Maria Miller<br/>
| 4 September 2012
| 9 April 2014
| style="background-color:" |
| Jo Swinson
| style="background-color:" |
| Helen Grant
|- style="height:1em"
! colspan=12 |
Minister for Women and Minister for Equalities
|- style="height:1em"
! colspan=3 | Cabinet ministers
! colspan=2 | Term of office
! colspan=4 | Junior ministers
! Political party
! colspan=2 | Ministry
|- style="height:1em"
! style="background-color:" |
| 60x60px
| Women:<br/>Nicky Morgan<br/>
| rowspan=2 | 9 April 2014
| rowspan=2 | 15 July 2014
| rowspan=2 style="background-color:" |
| rowspan=2 | Jo Swinson
| rowspan=2 style="background-color:" |
| rowspan=2 | Helen Grant
| rowspan=2 | Coalition<br/>'
| rowspan=2 style="background-color:#ddd" |
| rowspan=2 | Cameron-Clegg
|- style="height:1em"
| style="background-color:" |
| 71x71px
| Equalities:<br/>Sajid Javid<br/>
|- style="height:1em"
! colspan=12 |
Minister for Women and Equalities
|- style="height:1em"
! colspan=3 | Cabinet minister
! colspan=2 | Term of office
! colspan=4 | Junior ministers
! Political party
! colspan=2 | Ministry
|- style="height:1em"
! rowspan=2 style="background-color:" |
| rowspan=2 | 80x80px
| rowspan=2 | Nicky Morgan<br/>
| 15 July 2014
| 8 May 2015
| style="background-color:" |
| Jo Swinson
| style="background-color:" |
| Helen Grant
| Coalition<br/>'
| style="background-color:#ddd" |
| Cameron-Clegg
|-
| 8 May 2015
| 14 July 2016
| rowspan=2 style="background-color:" |
| rowspan=2 colspan=3 | Caroline Dinenage
| rowspan=9 | Conservative
| style="background-color:" |
| Cameron<br/>(II)
|- style="height:1em"
! rowspan=2 style="background-color:" |
| rowspan=2 | 60px
| rowspan=2 | Justine Greening<br/>
| 14 July 2016
| 14 June 2017
| style="background-color:" |
| May<br/>(I)
|-
| 14 June 2017
| 8 January 2018
| style="background-color:" |
| Women:<br/>Anne Milton
| style="background-color:" |
| Equalities:<br/>Nick Gibb
| rowspan=3 style="background-color:" |
| rowspan=3 | May<br/>(II)
|-
|- style="height:1em"
! style="background-color:" |
| 60px
| Amber Rudd<br/>
| 9 January 2018
| 30 April 2018
| rowspan=5 style="background-color:" |
| rowspan=5 | Women:<br/>Victoria Atkins<br/>
| rowspan=5 style="background-color:" |
| rowspan=5 | Equalities:<br/>Baroness Williams of Trafford<br/>
|- style="height:1em"
! style="background-color:" |
| 60px
| Penny Mordaunt<br/>
| 30 April 2018
| 24 July 2019
|- style="height:1em"
! style="background-color:" |
| 72x72px
| Amber Rudd<br/>
| 24 July 2019
| 7 September 2019
| rowspan=2 style="background-color:" |
| rowspan=2 |Johnson<br/>(I)
|- style="height:1em"
! rowspan=3 style="background-color:" |
| rowspan=3 | 60px
| rowspan=3 | Liz Truss<br/>
| 10 September 2019
| 16 December 2019
|- style="height:3em"
| rowspan=2 | 16 December 2019
| rowspan=2 | 6 September 2022
! rowspan=2 style="background-color:" |
| rowspan=2 | Johnson<br/>(II)
| style="border: none; background: none; width:0; padding:0;"|<br/>
|- style="height:1em"
! style="background-color:" |
| Women:<br/>Baroness Berridge<br/><br/>Baroness Stedman-Scott<br/>
! style="background-color:" |
| Equalities:<br/>Kemi Badenoch<br/><br/>Mike Freer<br/><br/>Amanda Solloway<br/>
|- style="height:1em"
! colspan=12 |
Minister for Equalities
|- style="height:1em"
! colspan=3 | Cabinet minister
! colspan=2 | Term of office
! colspan=4 | Junior ministers
! Political party
! colspan=2 | Ministry
|- style="height:1em"
! rowspan=1 style="background-color:" |
|80x80px
|Nadhim Zahawi<br/>
|6 September 2022
|25 October 2022
! style="background-color:" |
| Women:<br/>Katherine Fletcher
! style="background-color:" |
| Equalities:<br/>Baroness Stedman-Scott
| Conservative
! style="background-color:" |
| Truss
|- style="height:1em"
! colspan=12 |
Minister for Women and Equalities
|- style="height:1em"
! colspan=3 | Cabinet minister
! colspan=2 | Term of office
! colspan=4 | Junior ministers
! Political party
! colspan=2 | Ministry
|- style="height:1em"
! style="background-color:" |
| 80x80px
| Kemi Badenoch<br/>
| height=50|25 October 2022
| 5 July 2024
! style="background-color:" |
| Women:<br/>Maria Caulfield
! style="background-color:" |
| Equalities:<br/>Stuart Andrew
| Conservative
| style="background-color:" |
| Sunak
|- style="height:1em"
! rowspan=3 style="background-color:" |
| rowspan=3 | 60px
| rowspan=3 | Bridget Phillipson<br/>
| rowspan=3 height=50|8 July 2024
| rowspan=3 | Incumbent
! rowspan=3 style="background-color:" |
| rowspan=3 | Gender policy:<br/>Anneliese Dodds<br/><br/>Baroness Smith of Malvern<br/>
! style="background-color:" |
| Disability policy:<br/>Sir Stephen Timms
| rowspan=3 | Labour
| rowspan=3 style="background-color:" |
| rowspan=3 | Starmer
|-
! style="background-color:" |
| Race and ethnicity policy:<br/>Seema Malhotra<br/>
|-
! style="background-color:" |
| LGBT+ policy:<br/>Dame Nia Griffith<br/><br/>Olivia Bailey<br/>
|}
Timeline
See also
- Government Equalities Office
- Women and Equalities Committee
- Minister for Gender Equality (Sweden)
External links
- Ministers in the Labour Governments: 1997–2010