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DERMOT MURNAGHAN: So why does Westminster have a women problem?  Just over a fifth of current MPs are women, more than it used to be of course but still a long, long way from equality.   Well a report by a cross party group of MPs is going to be published tomorrow with recommendations on how to try to attract more women into parliament and in just a moment I’ll speak to the Conservative MP and former Cabinet Minister, Maria Miller.  So let’s say a very good morning then to Maria Miller and it is a basic question isn’t it, why are so many women not attracted to politics in Westminster and indeed are quitting parliament at the next election? 

MARIA MILLER: Well I think there is a real problem there.  We only have 22% of Members of Parliament are female and at a time when we are seeing young girls coming out of universities with the best degrees and choosing to go into areas like law and accountancy in more numbers than their male counterparts yet in parliament we are still struggling to really attract women to consider this either as a first career or a second career. 

DM: So what’s the answer to that?  Some of those jobs are better paid, something like that? 

MARIA MILLER: I think that all of us who go into parliament are going in to try and improve the communities in which we live and I think that that’s something which is a powerful message to men and to women but when you look at the figures you aren’t really seeing women take up that challenge and I think the important report that is coming out tomorrow, it is the first time parliamentarians have actually tried to grapple with that issue.  The political parties have been trying to deal with it now for really the best part of a decade but I think that parliament really is on the verge of lagging behind in terms of trying to address this issue where many other professions I think have already I think got their teeth into it and have many women coming through their talent schemes. 

DM: So let me ask you, why were you attracted then into parliament?  As you say, you wanted to give something back to society but you could have done it in many other ways, perhaps through the law or whatever it was.  Did parliament not put you off?

MARIA MILLER: Well I was very typical in thinking that people like me don’t go into parliament.  I was born in a council house, I went to a comprehensive school in South Wales, I didn’t go to Oxford or Cambridge and to me it didn’t look like something that people like me did and I think too many women today still have that feeling.  I think what changed it for me was family and friends saying no, people actually like you with your experience, twenty years in business, a mother of three children and my children were all under the age of twelve. 

DM: But that’s a message you have got to get across more widely.  You also, we have got to get to this point, you also have to make the culture within parliament more attractive.  That was part of the question to you personally, why were you not put off by the bear pit that was and is at times the Chamber of the House of Commons? 

MARIA MILLER: Well I think that sometimes I just perhaps didn’t realise exactly what it was going to be like but in all seriousness I think that we have as parliamentarians to take it very, very seriously indeed because we’re not, across the parties, we’re not seeing enough women coming forward and when they do come forward they’re not staying for long enough and I think some of the data and the research that’s coming out tomorrow will illustrate that and I’ve done further research myself to show that the average tenure of a male MP is sixteen years and the average tenure of a female MP is ten years.  So there is a seismic difference going on here, something parliament needs to wake up to and I think look at the working practices that we have and the culture that we have within parliament so that we aren’t lagging behind otherwise it really doesn’t leave us in a very good position to be able to hold business to account when we are trying to get business to take on more women.

DM: I will ask you about some more of those remedies in a moment or two but let’s have a look at this, you’ll remember this scene from the House of Commons, it illustrates the bear pit point and indeed the problem within your own party about the number of women on the Front Bench and this is from February this year.

ED MILIBAND: A picture tells a thousand words, look at the all-male front bench before us and he says he wants to represent the whole country.  Mr Speaker, I guess they didn’t let women into the Bullingdon Club either so there we go. 

DM: From the look on Mr Cameron’s face there, he realises he has made a gaffe there with the way he formulated the front bench there for that particular Prime Minister’s Questions, is it a Conservative problem?

MARIA MILLER: Although in fairness I was actually standing just off-camera there because the front bench isn’t big enough for us all to sit on but your point is taken.  I think David Cameron has actually shown that women have an important role to play within this government.  I mean he strengthened parliament enormously through back bench business committee and really making sure that parliament is at the centre of what is going on and also giving I think women some of the toughest jobs in parliament.  If you look at Theresa May as Home Secretary, one of I think our most successful Home Secretaries ever; Justine Greening, tackling something which is a tough issue, International Development and Theresa Villiers over in Northern Ireland and of course when I was a Cabinet Minister I was dealing with same sex marriage and also the fall-out from the Leveson Inquiry.

DM: Well he’s got a reshuffle coming up, it’s widely trailed, would you like to see him put even more women into the cabinet and promote more as ministers?   

MARIA MILLER: I think he’s got a hugely rich talent pool to draw from, people like Harriet Baldwin who are leaders in her field in the City before they came into parliament, Margo James, a very successful businesswoman, there is no shortage of talent and I’m sure the Prime Minister will make good use of that.

DM: As you said, you had to resign, you are not going to go back in in this reshuffle but do you still have ambitions to be back in Cabinet, do you have a contribution to make?   

MARIA MILLER: I think the important thing as a Member of Parliament is to be looking where you can make your contribution.  At the moment my work is very much focused obviously on my constituency in Basingstoke but also I am working very closely with people who have been affected by abusive behaviour, particularly towards women on the internet.

DM: This is the so-called ‘revenge porn’ isn’t it? 

MARIA MILLER: That’s right and the wonderful thing about being a Member of Parliament is that you can take up an issue that has been woefully under reported, take it up and call for a change and in fact on the 21st July we have amendments being debated in the House of Lords to try and make revenge pornography not just a criminal offence but a sexual offence to stop it happening.  I mean it really is ruining the lives of many young women and it needs to be stopped.

DM: And I didn’t want to gloss over this, some of the things that could be changed in the House of Commons, suggestions to sit Monday to Wednesday then you can spend Thursday and Friday in the constituency and clear a bit of the weekend for family and then something like a sin bin or yellow card for bullying by parliamentarians.

MARIA MILLER: I think some of the practical changes that have happened have been really important in terms of working hours but what’s even more important is the cultural change.  Parliament is still a 19th century institution trying to operate in a 21st century country.  We have to take it into the 21st century, we need to make sure that the way we behave, the way parliament is constructed, looks like somewhere that women want to be and at the moment we are not succeeding at that. 

DM: Just to press you on this issue within the Conservative party, ten safe seats or so up to this point looking forward to the next election, the majority of them have selected white males.  Women don’t seem to be getting through the selection process, is there anything the Conservative party can do and of course there is something, you could put forward all female shortlists.

MARIA MILLER: Well certainly it is one of the most important things that the party is dealing with, trying to encourage and support more women to put themselves forward.

DM: But not positive discrimination?

MARIA MILLER: At this point we don’t believe that we need to go that far but I certainly wouldn’t rule out all-women shortlists if we don’t make the progress that we need to because as a party, just like as a parliament, we need to make sure we are connected to the electorate we want to represent, 52% of that electorate are women and it is important that our party has a good representation of women within it.

DM: And would you rule out being back in Cabinet representing women at the top level?

MARIA MILLER: I will do whatever the Prime Minister wants me to do to do the best for our party and I think we have got a very strong team of women, not just in ministerial positions but also on our back benches as well and it really is a privilege to be part of that and to be taking forward issues that the government isn’t tackling.  

DM: I suppose that’s a formulation I am going to be hearing quite a lot over the next few days.  Just one name to throw at you, Esther McVey has been tipped for much higher office, would you like to see her at Cabinet rank?  

MARIA MILLER: Well Esther is working in the Department that I used to work in with Iain Duncan Smith and I think has proven herself to be a formidable advocate for employment and for the employment programmes that are going forward and I would imagine that she would continue to rise on up with her credentials and her clear talent.

DM: Okay, Maria Miller, thank you very much indeed, very good to see you.