"of deliberate media engagement, notably with the BBC, which proved successful in the long run. The election of May 1929 left the Labour Party for the first time as the largest grouping in the House of Commons with 287 seats, and 37.1% of the popular vote (actually slightly less than the Conservatives). However, MacDonald was still reliant on Liberal support to form a minority government. MacDonald's government included the first ever woman cabinet minister Margaret Bondfield who was appointed Minister of Labour. MacDonald's second government was in a stronger parliamentary position than his first, and in 1930 he was able"
"Margaret Bondfield Margaret Grace Bondfield (17 March 1873 – 16 June 1953) was a British Labour politician, trade unionist and women's rights activist. She became the first female cabinet minister, and the first woman to be a privy counsellor in the UK, when she was appointed Minister of Labour in the Labour government of 1929–31. She had earlier become the first woman to chair the General Council of the Trades Union Congress (TUC). Bondfield was born in humble circumstances and received limited formal education. After serving an apprenticeship to an embroidress she worked as a shop assistant in Brighton and"
"Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the longest-serving British prime minister of the 20th century and the first woman to hold that office. A Soviet journalist dubbed her ""The 'Iron Lady, a nickname that became associated with her uncompromising politics and leadership style. As Prime Minister, she implemented policies known as Thatcherism. A research chemist at Somerville College, Oxford, before becoming a barrister, Thatcher"
"woman to hold a ministerial post in a Conservative-led government following Katherine, Duchess of Atholl. As Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Health,1939–45, she was responsible for arranging the evacuation of schoolchildren from major cities during the war. Following her return to the House of Commons, she was the first woman to hold a Cabinet post in a Conservative government, and only the third woman, after Bondfield and Wilkinson to be appointed as a Cabinet minister in British history (1953-1954), having been appointed Minister of Education in 1951. She also served as a delegate to the Council of Europe and"
"Bondfield who was appointed Minister of Labour in 1929. The first female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom was Margaret Thatcher who served as PM from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. Margaret Thatcher was also the first woman to hold one of the Great Offices of State. These are rarer than father-son sets: Sylvia Heal (née Sylvia Lloyd Fox), MP for Mid Staffordshire 1990–92 and Halesowen and Rowley Regis 1997–2010 and Ann Keen (née Ann Lloyd Fox), MP for Brentford and Isleworth 1997–2010. Keen additionally served with her husband, Alan Keen. There"
"Georgina Frost Georgina ""Georgie"" Frost (29 December 1879 – 6 December 1939) was an Irish court official who was the first woman to hold public office in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Georgina Frost was born in Sixmilebridge, County Clare on 29 December 1879, the daughter of Margaret Kett (d. 1888) and Thomas Frost (1842–1938). Thomas Frost was the petty sessions clerk for Sixmilebridge and Newmarket-on-Fergus, having succeeded Frost's maternal grandfather, John Kett, in that role. Between 1909 and 1915, Georgie helped her father, whilst even performing them herself therefore becoming a well known person in the"
"will be sadly missed."" Janet Young, Baroness Young Janet Mary Young, Baroness Young, (; 23 October 1926 – 6 September 2002) was a British Conservative politician. She served as the first ever female Leader of the House of Lords from 1981 to 1983, first as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and from 1982 as Lord Privy Seal. She was the only woman ever appointed to the Cabinet by Margaret Thatcher. Born in 1926, she went to the mainly boys Dragon School in Oxford where she played rugby and cricket, and then to Headington School. During World War II she"
"based on pacifism. Its leaders believed that peace was impossible because of capitalism, secret diplomacy, and the trade in armaments. That is it stressed material factors that ignored the psychological memories of the Great War, and the highly emotional tensions regarding nationalism and the boundaries of the countries. In the 1929 general election, the Labour Party became the largest in the House of Commons for the first time, with 287 seats and 37.1% of the popular vote. However MacDonald was still reliant on Liberal support to form a minority government. MacDonald went on to appoint Britain's first woman cabinet minister;"
"Garna House, in Sixmilebridge. An Post issued a commemorative stamp of Frost in December 2000. Georgina Frost Georgina ""Georgie"" Frost (29 December 1879 – 6 December 1939) was an Irish court official who was the first woman to hold public office in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Georgina Frost was born in Sixmilebridge, County Clare on 29 December 1879, the daughter of Margaret Kett (d. 1888) and Thomas Frost (1842–1938). Thomas Frost was the petty sessions clerk for Sixmilebridge and Newmarket-on-Fergus, having succeeded Frost's maternal grandfather, John Kett, in that role. Between 1909 and 1915, Georgie helped"
"are to be male. In the 2015 general election, 191 women were elected, making up 29% of the House of Commons; up from 141 and 23% before the election. As elected in the 2010 general election. A total of 42 female ministers have held cabinet positions since the first, Margaret Bondfield, in 1929. Tony Blair’s 1997 Cabinet had five women and was the first to include more than two female ministers at one time. The highest number of concurrent women Cabinet Ministers under Tony Blair was eight (36 per cent), under Tony Blair (then a record) from May 2006 –"
"been initiated by Hilda Matheson OBE (7 June 1888- 30 October 1940). The programme was at 10.45am on each Wednesday and first known as ""The Week in Parliament"". As parliament, and its affairs, was thought to be a new institution to most women by the patriarchal-run BBC, it was decided to create a radio programme whereby female MPs would broadcast short talks to the nation's women, to help them familiarise the parliamentary processes and significances. The first presenter was Scottish. Margaret Bondfield was the first British female cabinet minister, when she became Minister of Labour in June 1929. Lord Reith"
"Dáil Éireann (the First Dáil) in Dublin. The first woman to take her seat in the House of Commons was Nancy Astor on December 1, 1919. She was elected as a Coalition Conservative MP for Plymouth Sutton on November 28, 1919, taking the seat her husband had previously vacated. As Members of Parliament, women also gained the right to become government ministers. The first woman to become a cabinet minister and Privy Council member was Margaret Bondfield who was Minister of Labour in the Second MacDonald ministry (1929–1931). During the debate of the bill, Lord Islington explained the apparent discrepancy"
"Foundation in 2006, where she established the Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom. Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the longest-serving British prime minister of the 20th century and the first woman to hold that office. A Soviet journalist dubbed her ""The 'Iron Lady, a nickname that became associated with her uncompromising politics and leadership style. As Prime Minister, she implemented policies known as Thatcherism."
"to end British rule and establish an Irish Republic. She was sentenced to death but this was reduced on the grounds of her sex. On 28 December 1918, she was the first woman elected to the British House of Commons, though she did not take her seat and, along with the other Sinn Féin TDs, formed the first Dáil Éireann. She was also the first woman in the world to hold a cabinet position as Minister for Labour from 1919 to 1922. Constance Georgine Gore-Booth was born at Buckingham Gate in London in 1868, the elder daughter of the Arctic"
"while remaining in the UK came to serve in Westminster as follows: Several United Kingdom MPs have become a head of government in another parts of the Commonwealth: The first woman elected to the House of Commons was Constance Markievicz who was elected on 14 December 1918 to the constituency of Dublin St Patrick's, but she refused to take her seat as she was a member of Sinn Féin. The first woman to take her seat as an MP was Conservative Nancy Astor, Viscountess Astor, elected 28 November 1919. The first female MP to become a cabinet minister was Margaret"
"Margaret Guilfoyle Dame Margaret Georgina Constance Guilfoyle, (; née McCartney; born 15 May 1926) is a former Australian politician who served as a Senator for Victoria from 1971 to 1987, representing the Liberal Party. She was the first woman to hold a cabinet-level ministerial portfolio in Australia, and served as a minister for the duration of the Fraser Government. Guilfoyle was successively Minister for Education (1975), Minister for Social Security (1975–1980), and Minister for Finance (1980–1983). She worked as an accountant before entering politics, and in retirement held various positions in the public and non-profit sectors. Guilfoyle was born Margaret"
"Westminster and instead sat in the Dáil Éireann (the First Dáil) in Dublin. The first woman to take her seat in the House of Commons was Nancy Astor on 1 December 1919, who was elected as a Coalition Conservative MP for Plymouth Sutton on 28 November 1919. As Members of Parliament, women also gained the right to become government ministers. The first women cabinet minister and Privy Council member was Margaret Bondfield, Minister of Labour from 1929 to 1931. There were some limitations to the Representation of the People Act: it did not create a complete system of ""one person,"
"Janet Young, Baroness Young Janet Mary Young, Baroness Young, (; 23 October 1926 – 6 September 2002) was a British Conservative politician. She served as the first ever female Leader of the House of Lords from 1981 to 1983, first as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and from 1982 as Lord Privy Seal. She was the only woman ever appointed to the Cabinet by Margaret Thatcher. Born in 1926, she went to the mainly boys Dragon School in Oxford where she played rugby and cricket, and then to Headington School. During World War II she studied at Yale, and"
"in January 1965. Five women have held one or more Great Offices of State, with three of the five being members of the Conservative Party. Out of the four Offices, three have been held by women; Chancellor of the Exchequer is the only position that has not. Due to her ascension to the office of Prime Minister in July 2016, Theresa May became the first woman to hold two different Great Offices of State, with the appointment of Amber Rudd as Home Secretary resulting in the first period in which more than one of the Offices were held by women"
"took place. Members of the Cabinet are in bold face. First Thatcher ministry Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 4 May 1979 to 28 November 1990, during which time she led a Conservative government. She was the first woman to hold that office. During her premiership, Thatcher moved to liberalise the British economy through deregulation, privatisation, and the promotion of entrepreneurialism. This article details the first government Thatcher led at the invitation of Queen Elizabeth II from 1979 to 1983. Following the vote of no confidence against the Labour government and prime minister James Callaghan on"
"First Thatcher ministry Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 4 May 1979 to 28 November 1990, during which time she led a Conservative government. She was the first woman to hold that office. During her premiership, Thatcher moved to liberalise the British economy through deregulation, privatisation, and the promotion of entrepreneurialism. This article details the first government Thatcher led at the invitation of Queen Elizabeth II from 1979 to 1983. Following the vote of no confidence against the Labour government and prime minister James Callaghan on 28 March 1979, a general election was called for 3"
"years of successive Conservative governments. Wilson had selected his core Cabinet four months prior to the election; Castle knew Wilson intended to place her within his Cabinet, which would make her the fourth woman in British history ever to hold position in a Cabinet, after Margaret Bondfield, Ellen Wilkinson and Florence Horsbrugh. Castle entered the Cabinet as the first Minister for Overseas Development, a newly created ministry for which she, alongside the Fabian Society, had drawn up the plans for. For the last year she had acted as the opposition spokeswoman on overseas development. Castle's plans were extensive, though the"
"came to power and Desmond was appointed Minister for Health and Social Welfare. Desmond's cabinet appointment was historic, as she was only the second woman to be a member of cabinet since the foundation of the state in 1922, and the first in any Fine Gael or Labour Party cabinet. Countess Markievicz had held the cabinet post of Minister for Labour in the revolutionary First Dáil in 1919, but only one woman had held cabinet office after the foundation of the state, Máire Geoghegan-Quinn of Fianna Fáil who was appointed as Minister for the Gaeltacht in 1979. Desmond retired from"
"Lavenham in Suffolk in 1985, aged 82. She never married, but a long-term relationship with another senior civil servant from the 1950s to the 1970s was an open secret. Evelyn Sharp, Baroness Sharp Dame Evelyn Adelaide Sharp, Baroness Sharp, GBE (25 May 1903 – 1 September 1985) was a British civil servant. She was first woman to hold the position of Permanent Secretary, the most senior civil servant in a Ministry, at the Ministry of Housing and Local Government from 1955 to her retirement in 1966. Sharp was born in Hornsey, Middlesex (now part of Haringey in north London). She"
"Rona Fairhead, Baroness Fairhead Rona Alison Fairhead, Baroness Fairhead (née Haig; born 28 August 1961), is a Minister of State at the Department for International Trade. She was the last Chair of the BBC Trust before its abolition and the first woman to hold the post. Fairhead was born Rona Haig in Cumbria in 1961 and educated at Yarm Grammar School, near Stockton-on-Tees, North East England before attending St Catharine's College, Cambridge; she was president of the Cambridge University Law Society before graduating with a double first in law (Bachelor of Arts, BA). She later obtained a Masters in Business"
"the hassle, the scrutiny from [the press]. That’s a world that was beyond him until he was elected leader"". Margaret Beckett Dame Margaret Mary Beckett (; born 15 January 1943) is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Derby South since 1983. She was the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party under John Smith from 1992 to 1994, and briefly served as Leader of the Labour Party after Smith died suddenly. She later served in the Cabinet under Prime Minister Tony Blair in a number of roles, becoming Britain's first female Foreign Secretary"
"Cabinet initially as President of the Board of Trade. She was later the Leader of the House of Commons and Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, before becoming Foreign Secretary in 2006, the first woman to hold that position, and—after Margaret Thatcher—the second woman to hold one of the Great Offices of State. Following Blair's resignation as Prime Minister in 2007, Beckett was not initially given a position by new Prime Minister Gordon Brown. After some time, Brown appointed her Minister of State for Housing and Planning in 2008, before she left the government for the last"
"Pauline Toner Pauline Therese Toner (16 March 1935 – 3 March 1989) was the first female cabinet minister in the Parliament of Victoria. A member of the Labor Party, she was elected to the Victorian Legislative Assembly in 1977 and was Minister for Community Welfare Services from 1982 to 1985. She resigned from Parliament in 1989 and died on 3 March 1989. Toner was born in Horsham, Victoria, the third child of William and Madge Hoare. After attending the Brigidine Convent in Horsham, she trained as a primary school teacher, then attended university, obtaining a Bachelor of Arts (University of"
"the Treasury. Harriet Slater Harriet Slater CBE (""née"" Evans; 1903 – 12 October 1976) was a British Labour and Co-operative politician. Educated at Hanley High School and Dudley Teachers’ Training College, Slater was National Organiser for the Cooperative Party from 1942 to 1953, and a local councillor in Stoke-on-Trent from 1933 to 1965. She was elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Stoke-on-Trent North at a by-election in 1953, and served until her retirement at the 1966 general election. From 1964 to 1966, she was a Government whip, the first woman to become one, with the formal title of"
"at the age of 10 months. Another son, Barry, was born with achondroplasia. Enid Lyons Dame Enid Muriel Lyons (née Burnell; 9 July 1897 – 2 September 1981) was an Australian politician who was the first woman elected to the House of Representatives and the first woman to serve in federal cabinet. Prior to her own political career, she was best known as the wife of Joseph Lyons, who was Prime Minister of Australia (1932–1939) and Premier of Tasmania (1923–1928). Lyons was born in Smithton, Tasmania. She grew up in various small towns in northern Tasmania, and trained as a"
"Valerie Amos, Baroness Amos Valerie Ann Amos, Baroness Amos, (born 13 March 1954) is a British politician and diplomat who served as the eighth UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator. Before her appointment to the UN, she served as British High Commissioner to Australia. She was created a Labour Life Peer in 1997, becoming Leader of the House of Lords and Lord President of the Council. When Amos was appointed Secretary of State for International Development on 12 May 2003, following the resignation of Clare Short, she became the first black woman to sit in the Cabinet"
"years at the Cabinet Office were the happiest of her life, but she began looking for another position. In 1955, she applied for a chair in economic history at Oxford, and for a position as a reader at LSE, but was unsuccessful. Sir Norman exploited various administrative loopholes to allow her to be retained at the Cabinet Office, and was prepared to make her the Cabinet Office Archivist, but he could not offer her a pension. The Public Records Act 1958 required all government departments to set up archives and records management systems. The United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA)"
"Frances Perkins Frances Perkins (born Fannie Coralie Perkins; April 10, 1880 – May 14, 1965) was an American sociologist and workers-rights advocate who served as the U.S. Secretary of Labor from 1933 to 1945, the longest serving in that position, and the first woman appointed to the U.S. Cabinet. As a loyal supporter of her friend, Franklin D. Roosevelt, she helped pull the labor movement into the New Deal coalition. She and Interior Secretary Harold L. Ickes were the only original members of the Roosevelt cabinet to remain in office for his entire presidency. During her term as Secretary of"