Shadow Secretary of State for Women and Equalities

The Shadow Secretary of State for Women and Equalities (previously Shadow Minister for Women, Shadow Minister for Women and Equality and Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities) is a position in the United Kingdom's Official Opposition, and sits in the Shadow Cabinet. The Shadow Secretary of State is responsible for holding the Minister for Women and Equalities, responsible for the Government Equalities Office, to account and is responsible for Opposition policy on women's and equality issues.

Shadow Secretary of State for Women and Equalities
Incumbent Marsha de Cordova since 6 April 2020
Shadow Cabinet
Appointer	Leader of the Opposition
Formation	31 October 1983
First holder	Jo Richardson
Website	Shadow Cabinet

The post was upgraded to the Shadow Cabinet rank of Shadow Secretary of State following the snap general election of 2017, with Jeremy Corbyn indicating that if Labour win office at the next election, Women and Equalities will be upgraded to the full status of a government department. Previously, the post was often held together with a Shadow Cabinet post, but sometimes as a Shadow Cabinet post in its own right.

The position, since its creation in 1983, has always been held by a female Member of Parliament. Marsha de Cordova has been the Shadow Secretary since 6 April 2020.

Shadow ministers

Shadow Minister			Took office	Left office	Political party	Leader of the Opposition
	Jo Richardson		31 October 1983[1]	18 July 1992	Labour	Neil Kinnock
	Mo Mowlam		18 July 1992[2]	21 October 1993		John Smith
	Clare Short		21 October 1993[3]	19 October 1995
						Tony Blair
	Tessa Jowell		19 October 1995[4]	26 July 1996[n 1]
	Janet Anderson		26 July 1996[n 1]	2 May 1997
	Gillian Shephard		2 May 1997	Unknown	Conservative	John Major
	Unclear[n 2]					William Hague
	Theresa May		15 June 1999	14 September 2001
	Caroline Spelman		14 September 2001	15 March 2004		Iain Duncan Smith
						Michael Howard
	Eleanor Laing		15 March 2004	2 July 2007
						David Cameron
	Theresa May		2 July 2007	11 May 2010
	Yvette Cooper		20 May 2010	7 October 2013	Labour	Harriet Harman
						Ed Miliband
	Gloria De Piero		7 October 2013	14 September 2015
						Harriet Harman
	Kate Green		14 September 2015	27 June 2016		Jeremy Corbyn
	Angela Rayner		27 June 2016	6 October 2016
	Sarah Champion[10]		6 October 2016	16 August 2017
	Dawn Butler		31 August 2017	6 April 2020
	Marsha de Cordova		6 April 2020	Incumbent		Keir Starmer

See also

• Official Opposition frontbench

Notes

1. Blair conducted a minor reshuffle of his shadow cabinet on 26 July 1996. As Anderson was in post and Shadow Minister for Women by 21 August 1996[5] (and Jowell as a Shadow Health minister by 15 September),[6] the change likely occurred at that 26 July reshuffle.
2. No sources currently note any individual as holding this role for the Conservatives when Labour entered Government at the 1997 election and created the position of Minister for Women, but no source proves there was not one. Before the Conservatives' defeat, Gillian Shephard, John Major's Education Secretary, spoke on women's issues. She largely delegated the responsibility to a junior minister, Cheryl Gillan.[7] The only parliamentary debate that obviously fell under the portfolio of the Minister for Women during the term of Harriet Harman (May 1997 to July 1998) occurred on 27 February 1998. It was a set-piece debate, meaning the order of speakers was opening minister, opening shadow minister, backbenchers, closing shadow minister, closing minister. Harman opened, followed by Shepard. The closing speeches were given by Gillan for the Conservatives and Joan Ruddock, Harman's deputy, for the Government.[8] A similar debate was held on 8 March 1999. The Minister for Women was a peer, Baroness Jay of Paddington, so her deputy, Tessa Jowell, opened the debate for the Government; Theresa May opened for the Conservatives. Virginia Bottomley closed for the Opposition, and Margaret Hodge did so for Labour.[9]

References

1. Parkhouse, Geoffrey (1 November 1983). "Protest by Nationalists as Dewar takes over". The Glasgow Herald. p. 7.
2. Timmins, Nicholas (25 July 1992). "Smith revamps Shadow Cabinet: Nicholas Timmins analyses the Labour line-up and looks at the backgrounds of the newcomers". The Independent. Retrieved 2 June 2011.
3. Lynton, Martin (22 October 1993). "Women's lists 'not illegal': The New Shadow Cabinet". The Guardian.
4. Davies, Patricia Wynn; Donald Macintyre (20 October 1995). "Blair turns tables in front bench 'clearout'". The Independent. Retrieved 14 November 2013.
5. Boggan, Steve; Raif, Shenai (21 August 1996). "Women in revealing clothes have no redress, says lawyer". The Independent. Retrieved 14 November 2013.
6. "Letter: Nurse Search". The Independent. 15 September 1996. Retrieved 14 November 2013.
7. Abrams, Fran (7 May 1997). "Jowell to be first guardian of public health". The Independent. Retrieved 14 November 2013.
8. "House of Commons Debates, 27 February 1998 c. 607–80". Retrieved 14 November 2013.
9. "House of Commons Debates 8 March 1999 c. 34–120". Retrieved 14 November 2013.
10. "Sarah Champion takes Angela Rayner's second brief - women and equalities". Jessica Elgot, Twitter. 6 October 2016. Retrieved 6 October 2016.