The Minister for Women and Equalities is a ministerial position in the United Kingdom which leads the Government Equalities Office. This is an independent department within the wider Cabinet Office that has responsibility for addressing all forms of discrimination, with particular emphasis on gender inequality. Prior to April 2019, the minister was based at the Home Office, DFID and DfE. Its counterpart in the shadow cabinet is the shadow secretary of state for women and equalities.
The minister is deputised by two parliamentary under-secretaries of state; the parliamentary under-secretary of state for women and the parliamentary under-secretary of state for equalities.
The position was formerly known as; "Minister for Women", "Minister for Women and Equality", and "Minister for Equalities".
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.[1] 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. On 12 October 2007[2] a new department, the Government Equalities Office, was created to support the minister. 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).
Justine Greening reemplazó a Nicky Morgan como Secretaria de Estado de Educación y Ministra de Mujeres e Igualdad cuando Theresa May fue nombrada Primera Ministra el 13 de julio de 2016. Morgan inicialmente ocupó el título de Ministra de Mujeres después de la renuncia de Maria Miller en abril de 2014, en además de ser Secretario de Finanzas del Tesoro , mientras que el encargo de Igualdad recayó en Sajid Javid , que había sustituido a Miller como Secretario de Estado de Cultura . Si bien los informes sobre Mujeres e Igualdad se recombinaron en julio de 2014, la responsabilidad del matrimonio igualitario se asignó a Nick Boles , que ostentaba el título de Ministro de Estado para Capacidades, Empresas e Igualdad y tenía una base en los departamentos de Educación y Negocios. Ambas divisiones de responsabilidades se debieron a que Nicky Morgan votó en contra de la legalización del matrimonio homosexual. [3]
En 2004, Lord Northbourne pidió la creación de un ministro para los hombres . [4] Nick Fletcher repitió este llamamiento en septiembre de 2023 para abordar cuestiones como la reducción del suicidio masculino, la mejora de los derechos de paternidad y la lucha contra la misoginia. [5]
Un informe del Consejo de Europa [6] [7] de septiembre de 2021 criticó al Ministro de Igualdad, afirmando que la retórica del ministro está en contradicción con las normas internacionales de derechos humanos y ha contribuido a un fuerte aumento de los delitos transfóbicos desde 2015.
Las dos primeras ministras más recientes , Theresa May y Liz Truss , ocuparon este cargo.