Minister for Women and Equalities

United Kingdom
Minister for Women and Equalities
Royal Arms as used by His Majesty's Government
since 8 July 2024
Currently Department for Education
StyleThe Right Honourable
AppointerThe Monarch
(on the advice of the Prime Minister)
Inaugural holderHarriet Harman
Formation3 May 1997 (1997-05-03) (as Minister for Women)
WebsiteMinister for Women and Equalities

Minister for Women and Equalities is a ministerial position in the United Kingdom currently appointed to the Department for Education.[1] The minister leads the Office for Equality and Opportunity (formerly known as Government Equalities Office) which is part of the Cabinet Office. Its counterpart in the shadow cabinet is the shadow minister for women and equalities.

The position has also been known as Minister for Women, Minister for Women and Equality and Minister for Equalities.

History

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.[2] 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. 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).

In April 2014 (after the resignation of Maria Miller), Nicky Morgan was initially appointed to the role of Minister for Women in conjunction with being Financial Secretary to the Treasury, attending Cabinet. Sajid Javid who had replaced Miller as Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport was appointed to the separate role of Minister for Equalities. While the Women and Equalities briefs were recombined in July 2014, the responsibility for marriage equality was assigned to Nick Boles, who held the title of Minister of State for Skills, Enterprise and Equalities and had a base in both the Education and Business departments. Both splits in responsibilities were due to Nicky Morgan having voted against the legalisation of equal marriage.[3]

The two most recent female Prime Ministers, Theresa May and Liz Truss, served in this position.

Since April 2019, the Government Equalities Office has been permanently based within the Cabinet Office.[4] In October 2024, the Office was renamed the Office for Equality and Opportunity.[5]

The Minister for Women and Equalities and predecessor cabinet ministers since 1997 have been supported by one or more parliamentary under-secretaries of state or ministers of state. These ministers are typically appointed to the department that the Minister for Women and Equalities leads by virtue of their other Cabinet appointment. Since July 2024, under Bridget Phillipson (Minister for Women and Equalities and Secretary of State for Education), all women and equalities ministers have been appointed to the Department for Education.[6]

Women and equalities ministers are typically concurrently appointed to another ministerial role, often in another department. For example, in February 2020, Kemi Badenoch was appointed jointly Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury in HM Treasury and Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Minister for Equalities) in the Department for International Trade (under Liz Truss as Minister for Women and Equalities and Secretary of State for International Trade).[7]

List of ministers

Minister for Women

Cabinet minister Term of office Junior ministers Political party Ministry
Harriet Harman
MP for Camberwell and Peckham
Secretary of State for Social Security 		3 May 1997 27 July 1998 Joan Ruddock Labour Blair

(I)

Margaret Jay, Baroness Jay of Paddington
Life peer
Leader of the House of Lords 		27 July 1998 8 June 2001 Tessa Jowell
Patricia Hewitt
MP for Leicester West
Secretary of State for Trade and Industry 		8 June 2001 5 May 2005 Barbara Roche
(with Morgan until November 2001) 		Baroness Morgan of Huyton
(until November 2001) 		Blair

(II)

Barbara Roche
(November 2001 – June 2003)
Jacqui Smith
(from June 2003)
Tessa Jowell
MP for Dulwich and West Norwood
Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport and Minister for the Olympics 		5 May 2005 5 May 2006 Meg Munn Blair

(III)

Ruth Kelly
MP for Bolton West
Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government 		5 May 2006 28 June 2007

Minister for Women and Equality

Cabinet minister Term of office Junior ministers Political party Ministry
Harriet Harman
MP for Camberwell and Peckham
Leader of the House of Commons 		28 June 2007 11 May 2010 Barbara Follett
(October 2007 – October 2008)
Maria Eagle
(October 2008 – June 2009) 		Labour Brown
Maria Eagle
(with Foster from June 2009) 		Michael Foster
(from June 2009)

Minister for Women and Equalities

Cabinet minister Term of office Junior ministers Political party Ministry
Theresa May
MP for Maidenhead
Home Secretary 		12 May 2010 4 September 2012 Lynne Featherstone Coalition
(Con–LD) 		Cameron-Clegg
Maria Miller
MP for Basingstoke
Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport 		4 September 2012 9 April 2014 Jo Swinson Helen Grant

Minister for Women and Minister for Equalities

Cabinet ministers Term of office Junior ministers Political party Ministry
Women:
Nicky Morgan
MP for Loughborough
Financial Secretary to the Treasury (attending Cabinet) 		9 April 2014 15 July 2014 Jo Swinson Helen Grant Coalition
(Con–LD) 		Cameron-Clegg
Equalities:
Sajid Javid
MP for Bromsgrove
Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport

Minister for Women and Equalities

Cabinet minister Term of office Junior ministers Political party Ministry
Nicky Morgan
MP for Loughborough
Secretary of State for Education 		15 July 2014 8 May 2015 Jo Swinson Helen Grant Coalition
(Con–LD) 		Cameron-Clegg
8 May 2015 14 July 2016 Caroline Dinenage Conservative Cameron
(II)
Justine Greening
MP for Putney
Secretary of State for Education 		14 July 2016 14 June 2017 May
(I)
14 June 2017 8 January 2018 Women:
Anne Milton 		Equalities:
Nick Gibb 		May
(II)
Amber Rudd
MP for Hastings and Rye
Home Secretary 		9 January 2018 30 April 2018 Women:
Victoria Atkins
(until February 2020) 		Equalities:
Baroness Williams of Trafford
(until February 2020)
Penny Mordaunt
MP for Portsmouth North
Secretary of State for International Development
until May 2019, then
Secretary of State for Defence 		30 April 2018 24 July 2019
Amber Rudd
MP for Hastings and Rye
Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 		24 July 2019 7 September 2019 Johnson
(I)
Liz Truss
MP for South West Norfolk
Secretary of State for International Trade
until September 2021, then
Foreign Secretary 		10 September 2019 16 December 2019
16 December 2019 6 September 2022 Johnson
(II)
Women:
Baroness Berridge
(February 2020 – September 2021)
Baroness Stedman-Scott
(from September 2021) 		Equalities:
Kemi Badenoch
(February 2020 – July 2022)
Mike Freer
(September 2021 – July 2022)
Amanda Solloway
(from July 2022)

Minister for Equalities

Cabinet minister Term of office Junior ministers Political party Ministry
Nadhim Zahawi
MP for Stratford-on-Avon
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for Intergovernmental Relations 		6 September 2022 25 October 2022 Women:
Katherine Fletcher 		Equalities:
Baroness Stedman-Scott 		Conservative Truss

Minister for Women and Equalities

Cabinet minister Term of office Junior ministers Political party Ministry
Kemi Badenoch
MP for Saffron Walden
Secretary of State for International Trade
until February 2023, then
Secretary of State for Business and Trade 		25 October 2022 5 July 2024 Women:
Maria Caulfield 		Equalities:
Stuart Andrew 		Conservative Sunak
Bridget Phillipson
MP for Houghton and Sunderland South
Secretary of State for Education 		8 July 2024 Incumbent Gender policy:
Anneliese Dodds
(until February 2025)
Baroness Smith of Malvern
(from March 2025) 		Disability policy:
Sir Stephen Timms 		Labour Starmer
Race and ethnicity policy:
Seema Malhotra
(from October 2024)
LGBT+ policy:
Dame Nia Griffith
(October 2024 – September 2025)
Olivia Bailey
(from September 2025)

Timeline

Bridget PhillipsonKemi BadenochNadhim ZahawiLiz TrussPenny MordauntAmber RuddJustine GreeningNicky MorganSajid JavidMaria MillerTheresa MayRuth KellyTessa JowellPatricia HewittMargaret JayHarriet Harman

See also

  • Government Equalities Office
  • Women and Equalities Committee
  • Minister for Gender Equality (Sweden)

References

  1. ^ "Minister for Women and Equalities". GOV.UK. Retrieved 29 October 2025.
  2. ^ Abrams, Fran (4 June 1997). "Harman heads team to put women's issues first". The Independent. Archived from the original on 15 May 2022. Retrieved 18 January 2011.
  3. ^ Mason, Rowena (15 July 2014). "Nicky Morgan's gay-marriage stance causes equalities role confusion... again". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 July 2014.
  4. ^ "Government Equalities Office to join Cabinet Office". GOV.UK. 16 November 2018. Retrieved 28 October 2025.
  5. ^ "Office for Equality and Opportunity to break down barriers to opportunity". gov.uk. 9 October 2024. Retrieved 28 October 2025.
  6. ^ "Ministerial Appointments: 8 October 2024". GOV.UK. 8 October 2024. Retrieved 28 October 2025.
  7. ^ "Ministerial appointments: February 2020". GOV.UK. 13 February 2020. Retrieved 28 October 2025.
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