Minister for Women and Equalities

Minister for Women and Equalities is a ministerial position in the United Kingdom currently appointed to the Department for Education.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In October 2024, the Office was renamed the Office for Equality and Opportunity.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

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).<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

List of ministers

Minister for Women
Cabinet minister			Term of office		Junior ministers				Political party	Ministry
style="background-color:Template:Party color" |	File:Harriet Harman (cropped).jpg	Harriet Harman Template:Small	3 May 1997	27 July 1998	style="background-color:Template:Party color" |	Joan Ruddock			Labour	rowspan=2 style="background-color:Template:Party color" |	Blair (I)
style="background-color:Template:Party color" |	File:Baroness Jay of Paddington (cropped).jpg	Margaret Jay, Baroness Jay of Paddington Template:Small	27 July 1998	8 June 2001	style="background-color:Template:Party color" |	Tessa Jowell
rowspan=2 style="background-color:Template:Party color" |	File:Patricia Hewitt.jpg	Patricia Hewitt Template:Small Template:Small	8 June 2001	5 May 2005	style="background-color:Template:Party color" |	Barbara Roche Template:Small	style="background-color:Template:Party color" |	Baroness Morgan of Huyton Template:Small		rowspan=2 style="background-color:Template:Party color" |	Blair (II)
style="background-color:Template:Party color" |					Barbara Roche Template:Small Jacqui Smith Template:Small
style="background-color:Template:Party color" |	File:Tessa Jowell Cropped.jpg	Tessa Jowell Template:Small Template:Small	5 May 2005	5 May 2006	rowspan=2 style="background-color:Template:Party color" |	Meg Munn				rowspan=2 style="background-color:Template:Party color" |	Blair (III)
style="background-color:Template:Party color" |	File:RuthKellyMP.jpg	Ruth Kelly Template:Small Template:Small	5 May 2006	28 June 2007
Minister for Women and Equality
Cabinet minister			Term of office		Junior ministers				Political party	Ministry
rowspan=2 style="background-color:Template:Party color" |	File:Harriet Harman 2009 cropped-2.jpg	Harriet Harman Template:Small	28 June 2007	11 May 2010	style="background-color:Template:Party color" |	Barbara Follett Template:Small Maria Eagle Template:Small			Labour	rowspan=2 style="background-color:Template:Party color" |	Brown
style="background-color:Template:Party color" |					Maria Eagle Template:Small	style="background-color:Template:Party color" |	Michael Foster Template:Small
Minister for Women and Equalities
Cabinet minister			Term of office		Junior ministers				Political party	Ministry
style="background-color:Template:Party color" |	File:Theresa May - Home Secretary and minister for women and equality.jpg	Theresa May Template:Small	12 May 2010	4 September 2012	style="background-color:Template:Party color" |	Lynne Featherstone			Coalition Template:Small		Cameron-Clegg)
style="background-color:Template:Party color" |	File:Maria Miller Official.jpg	Maria Miller Template:Small	4 September 2012	9 April 2014	style="background-color:Template:Party color" |	Jo Swinson	style="background-color:Template:Party color" |	Helen Grant
Minister for Women and Minister for Equalities
Cabinet ministers			Term of office		Junior ministers				Political party	Ministry
style="background-color:Template:Party color" |	File:Nicky Morgan, at Policy Exchange, cropped.jpg	Women: Nicky Morgan Template:Small	9 April 2014	15 July 2014	rowspan=2 style="background-color:Template:Party color" |	Jo Swinson	rowspan=2 style="background-color:Template:Party color" |	Helen Grant	Coalition Template:Small		Cameron-Clegg
style="background-color:Template:Party color" |	File:Sajid Javid (cropped).jpg	Equalities: Sajid Javid Template:Small
Minister for Women and Equalities
Cabinet minister			Term of office		Junior ministers				Political party	Ministry
rowspan=2 style="background-color:Template:Party color" |	File:Official portrait of Baroness Morgan of Cotes crop 2.jpg	Nicky Morgan Template:Small	15 July 2014	8 May 2015	style="background-color:Template:Party color" |	Jo Swinson	style="background-color:Template:Party color" |	Helen Grant	Coalition Template:Small		Cameron-Clegg
8 May 2015			14 July 2016	rowspan=2 style="background-color:Template:Party color" |	Caroline Dinenage			Conservative	style="background-color:Template:Party color" |	Cameron (II)
rowspan=2 style="background-color:Template:Party color" |	File:Official portrait of Justine Greening crop 2.jpg	Justine Greening Template:Small	14 July 2016	14 June 2017					style="background-color:Template:Party color" |	May (I)
14 June 2017			8 January 2018	style="background-color:Template:Party color" |	Women: Anne Milton	style="background-color:Template:Party color" |	Equalities: Nick Gibb		rowspan=3 style="background-color:Template:Party color" |	May (II)
style="background-color:Template:Party color" |	File:Official portrait of Amber Rudd crop 2.jpg	Amber Rudd Template:Small	9 January 2018	30 April 2018	rowspan=5 style="background-color:Template:Party color" |	Women: Victoria Atkins Template:Small	rowspan=5 style="background-color:Template:Party color" |		Equalities: Baroness Williams of Trafford Template:Small
style="background-color:Template:Party color" |	File:Rt Hon Penny Mordaunt.jpg	Penny Mordaunt Template:Small	30 April 2018	24 July 2019
style="background-color:Template:Party color" |	File:ARHead and shoulders (cropped).jpg	Amber Rudd Template:Small	24 July 2019	7 September 2019	rowspan=2 style="background-color:Template:Party color" |		Johnson (I)
rowspan=3 style="background-color:Template:Party color" |	File:Liz Truss Official Photo (cropped).jpg	Liz Truss Template:Small	10 September 2019	16 December 2019
16 December 2019			6 September 2022	rowspan=2 style="background-color:Template:Party color" |	Johnson (II)
				style="background-color:Template:Party color" |		Women: Baroness Berridge Template:Small Baroness Stedman-Scott Template:Small	style="background-color:Template:Party color" |		Equalities: Kemi Badenoch Template:Small Mike Freer Template:Small Amanda Solloway Template:Small
Minister for Equalities
Cabinet minister			Term of office		Junior ministers				Political party	Ministry
rowspan=1 style="background-color:Template:Party color" |	File:Nadhim Zahawi Official Cabinet Portrait, September 2022 (cropped).jpg	Nadhim Zahawi Template:Small	6 September 2022	25 October 2022	style="background-color:Template:Party color" |	Women: Katherine Fletcher	style="background-color:Template:Party color" |	Equalities: Baroness Stedman-Scott	Conservative	style="background-color:Template:Party color" |	Truss
Minister for Women and Equalities
Cabinet minister			Term of office		Junior ministers				Political party	Ministry
style="background-color:Template:Party color" |	File:Official portrait of Kemi Badenoch MP crop 2, 2024.jpg	Kemi Badenoch Template:Small	25 October 2022	5 July 2024	style="background-color:Template:Party color" |	Women: Maria Caulfield	style="background-color:Template:Party color" |	Equalities: Stuart Andrew	Conservative	style="background-color:Template:Party color" |	Sunak
rowspan=3 style="background-color:Template:Party color" |	File:Bridget Phillipson Official Cabinet Portrait, July 2024 (cropped) 2.jpg	Bridget Phillipson Template:Small	8 July 2024	Incumbent	rowspan=3 style="background-color:Template:Party color" |	Gender policy: Anneliese Dodds Template:Small Baroness Smith of Malvern Template:Small	style="background-color:Template:Party color" |	Disability policy: Sir Stephen Timms	Labour	rowspan=3 style="background-color:Template:Party color" |	Starmer
style="background-color:Template:Party color" |					Race and ethnicity policy: Seema Malhotra Template:Small
style="background-color:Template:Party color" |					LGBT+ policy: Dame Nia Griffith Template:Small Olivia Bailey Template:Small

Timeline

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 from: 03/05/1997 till: 27/07/1998 color:Labour
 from: 28/06/2007 till: 11/05/2010 color:Labour       text:"Harriet Harman"
bar:Jay
 from: 27/07/1998 till: 08/06/2001 color:Labour       text:"Margaret Jay"
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 from: 08/06/2001 till: 05/05/2005 color:Labour       text:"Patricia Hewitt"
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 from: 05/05/2005 till: 05/05/2006 color:Labour       text:"Tessa Jowell"
bar:Kelly
 from: 05/05/2006 till: 28/06/2007 color:Labour       text:"Ruth Kelly"
bar:May
 from: 12/05/2010 till: 04/09/2012 color:Conservative text:"Theresa May"
bar:Miller
 from: 04/09/2012 till: 09/04/2014 color:Conservative text:"Maria Miller"
bar:Javid
 from: 09/04/2014 till: 15/07/2014 color:Conservative text:"Sajid Javid"
bar:Morgan
 from: 09/04/2014 till: 14/07/2016 color:Conservative text:"Nicky Morgan"
bar:Greening
 from: 14/07/2016 till: 08/01/2018 color:Conservative text:"Justine Greening"
bar:Rudd
 from: 09/01/2018 till: 30/04/2018 color:Conservative
 from: 24/07/2019 till: 07/09/2019 color:Conservative text:"Amber Rudd"
bar:Mordaunt
 from: 30/04/2018 till: 24/07/2019 color:Conservative text:"Penny Mordaunt"
bar:Truss
 from: 10/09/2019 till: 06/09/2022 color:Conservative text:"Liz Truss"
bar:Zahawi
 from: 06/09/2022 till: 25/10/2022 color:Conservative text:"Nadhim Zahawi"
bar:Badenoch
 from: 25/10/2022 till: 05/07/2024 color:Conservative text:"Kemi Badenoch"
bar:Phillipson
 from: 08/07/2024 till: $today color:Labour text:"Bridget Phillipson"

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See also

• Government Equalities Office
• Women and Equalities Committee
• Minister for Gender Equality (Sweden)

External links

• Ministers in the Labour Governments: 1997–2010