Wimmin! Know your place!

Labour sisters to oust men in women-only session at party conference. Only Ed Miliband can enter

Men will be banned from a session of this year's Labour Party conference in what is described as an "uprising" by female members.

Ed Miliband, in his first conference as leader, will be the only man allowed into the auditorium in Liverpool to address the "What Women Want" meeting.

Presiding over the event will be the party's most senior women, including the deputy leader, Harriet Harman, the Shadow Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, the Labour leader in the Lords, Baroness Royall, and the Shadow Attorney General, Baroness Scotland.

The move is likely to be controversial among some members who believe that the party's policy development should not be drawn up along gender lines, but that all members should have a say.

There will be formal resolutions based on suggestions from female members, who are being invited to the platform to put their case on education, childcare, the economy and the NHS, as well as party rules.

Mr Miliband is expected to make a short speech before opening up the floor to women.

One demand that is expected to be passed is the proposal by Ms Harman for there always to be a woman in Labour's leadership, either as deputy or as leader – a move some traditionalists have protested against.

A senior Labour source said: "It will be an open mic event – Harriet, Yvette and others are simply presiding over an uprising. Ed will be there as an honorary woman.

"The Labour Party is in the best position to make policy on all the key issues because we have key women in the NHS, in education, in all the important areas."

The meeting will take place on the opening day of Labour's conference, when party members and MPs will assess Mr Miliband's leadership one year after his victory. Insiders joked that "perhaps" some male journalists and photographers would be allowed in to cover the event.

Mr Miliband pledged during the leadership contest last year that half his Shadow Cabinet would be women. This year MPs backed his proposal to abolish elections for the Shadow Cabinet, leaving him free to pick his own frontbench team – another measure to be approved at the conference. There is speculation that a reshuffle of the Shadow Cabinet could follow the conference season, when David Cameron is also expected to shake up his own top team.

However, the event could trigger controversy for the Labour leader, who is under pressure to show his party has transformed its chances of winning an election. After a difficult first few months as leader, Mr Miliband won praise for his response to the phone-hacking scandal in July, securing several concessions from Mr Cameron including a full, judge-led public inquiry into the affair. But some shadow ministers have said he needs to deliver an "audacious" speech to prove he can win an election in 2015. Similarly, Mr Miliband's speech to the TUC this Tuesday is important in maintaining momentum.

His brother David Miliband said he would attend conference for a day, but leave before the leader's speech as he didn't "want to be a distraction".