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. 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. 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. In October 2024, the Office was renamed the
Office for Equality and Opportunity. 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. 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). ==List of ministers==