Ladies in a Lords’ House

Abstract

Although the House of Lords excluded women as members until 1958, it has since been asserted that in many ways the Lords suits women better than the House of Commons. Yet women peers have received only minimal attention in the wealth of academic work on women in politics. This chapter provides the first examination of women’s experiences and contributions in Parliament’s Upper House over sixty years of their membership. It discusses what opportunities or challenges the House’s method of recruitment has offered women, explores how women have adapted to the House’s distinct culture (and vice-versa), and finally highlights areas where women peers have made a notable impact over the years. This chapter aims to complement both the author’s previous account of women’s admission to the Lords and Brian Harrison’s study of early women MPs, touching upon some of the same themes which the latter work considered.