Janet Street-Porter: We are second-class citizens

It is perfectly clear that not only does the glass ceiling still exist, it feels like it has concrete reinforcements

Last Sunday evening the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane hosted a remarkable event; a tribute to the late Mo Mowlam. There was laughter, music, loads of bad language and a few tears.

The huge gap in politics left by Mo's death can be summed up in one word - charisma. For all her faults, her infuriating ways, Mo was quite simply the best person in modern times at connecting with ordinary voters.

One of the most touching speeches was by Betty Boothroyd, another larger-than- life personality, whose exit from the Commons has left politics a more monochromatic world. These two women shone so brightly, they obscured the fact that the representation of women at the very top in politics is shameful. As Theresa May put it in a speech the other day "there are more people called David than women in the Shadow cabinet". Painfully, horribly true. Patricia Hewitt's drubbing in the Commons over flu jabs this week reminded me, that whatever her shortcomings, her appointment as Secretary of State for Health after the last election represented the only gain for women in the Cabinet. The current Under-Secretary of State for Women and Equality, Meg Munn (serving Tessa Jowell who had women's issues added to her portfolio at Culture), is not paid. That's how seriously Tony Blair treats the issue of women in politics.

Currently, 128 women hold seats in the House of Commons, just under 20 per cent, but that masks a huge imbalance within the three main parties, with 28 per cent of those female MPs Labour, 16 per cent Liberal Democrat and a feeble 9 per cent Conservative. By adopting all-female shortlists, the Labour Party has significantly increased the number of successful female candidates since 1997.

The Liberal party has adopted quotas at the short-list stage, with similar successes. The Conservative track record is lamentable, with both leadership contenders refusing to countenance either option.

Now a new campaign has been launched, Women2Win, lobbying for positive action to increase the number of female Tory MPs. This initiative, backed by Theresa May, proposes that the party create an A list of 50 men and 50 women to stand in the 100 most winnable Tory seats. Another proposal is to create a list of 120 candidates, half of whom would be female, to contest the top 100 seats. With six of the Shadow Cabinet backing these proposals, Ms May is hoping that Messrs Cameron and Davis will be persuaded to adopt them. In 1932 there were 13 Conservative women MPs - today there are 17 - you've not come very far, have you Tory babes? As far as I can see, Women2Win is too little, too late. What on earth is the problem for the party in adopting either quotas or all-female short lists? Why are Tory voters so weird, so special, so nervous that they have to dip their toes gingerly in the shallows of fair and just representation? The proposals mask the fact that the Tories aren't living in the real world. Neither of the two leadership candidates deserve a single vote from a female party member.

I addressed a conference earlier this week attended by women, and it is perfectly clear that not only does the glass ceiling still exist, it is beginning to feel that it has concrete reinforcement. Only 9.7 per cent of the directors of FTSE 100 companies are female (in 2004), as are 4.3 per cent of the directors of the major media companies, 9.3 per cent of chief constables, 9 per cent of High Court judges and 25 per cent of the BBC governors. When it comes to pay and conditions, Britain has one of the worse gender gaps in Europe, with women in full time work earning 83 per cent of men's wages, while for part-time workers (almost half of the female workforce) the difference is scandalous with women earning just 59 per cent of a man's hourly rate.

The Women at the Top survey by the Hansard Society makes all the right connections between female power in politics and female-friendly legislation and policy. Most women work in the five C categories - catering, cleaning, cashiering, clerical and caring, and mostly in the public sector. Yet there are no female ministers in six of the major government departments; the Cabinet Office, Defence, Northern Ireland, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Law Office, and the Department for International Development - all of whom draft policy which directly impinges on women's lives. And while Labour can wheel out six cabinet ministers, things don't look quite so rosy when you consider the number of women in government on a global scale.

The UK has fallen to number 51 in the rankings for political representation, behind Iraq, Mexico, Tunisia, Germany, Sweden, Austria and Rwanda, which leads with 48 per cent. In Pakistan 33 per cent of the seats at municipal elections are allocated to women, while the United Nations repeatedly states that 30 per cent of national governing bodies should be female. Women in Britain are treated like second class citizens. One in five female pensioners live below the poverty line. Only 13 per cent of female pensioners are entitled to a full state pension. Why should these women vote for any political party, when their rights, like those of low-paid part-time workers are so clearly ignored?

The Conservatives fielded 118 female candidates at the last election - 93 of whom stood in un-winnable seats . That sends a message loud and strong to the women of Britain; this party is not for you. Contrast that with Labour's record of placing 166 women in seats which they were generally defending, with 115 victories and only 47 standing in impossible-to-win constituencies. Even so, the Labour party still fell short of its commitment to achieve 35 per cent women in the Parliamentary Labour Party at the last election.

Don't write and tell me that female MPs have the same faults as their male counterparts. Don't tell me that women shouldn't be given special treatment. Don't tell me that male MPs have our interests at heart, because the reality is plain for all to see. The female entrepreneurs I talked to in Docklands have to juggle family and work.

They have a wealth of experience that is being ignored by all political parties, but particularly the Conservatives. Women have different experiences to men, and different skills that are sorely lacking in politics. Of course, not all women do the best for other women, but until we at least achieve fair representation in the corridors of power, the whole tenor of government will be favouring one sex at the expense of another.

Women run things differently, think differently, connect differently. One of the problems that all politicians face at the moment is antipathy and distrust from voters. At Mo Mowlam's tribute evening, I was reminded of how one woman can make politics seem important to ordinary people, jargon-free, and central to their lives. Women2Win represents just another missed opportunity, like crumbs from the table of the well-fed.