It says `seat-blocking` incumbent male MPs continue to act as a brake on increased female representation, due to the prevalence of unchallenged `safe seats`. The report said: "Our broken, archaic voting system is one of the chief obstacles to greater progress in this area. All of the parties are selecting more women in winnable seats than they used to, but change is slow because of the vast number of safe seats held by incumbents. These `seat-blockers` are holding back further growth in female representation."
"We desperately need to see more women in Parliament, and a general election gives parties a chance to correct the imbalance. Our analysis suggests that parties are starting to step up to the challenge."
"But progress is still incredibly slow. It`s made slower by our broken voting system which creates hundreds of artificially safe seats and works against parties trying to force change," said Hughes.
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