Party leaders pledge to boost women in parliament

By Tim Castle

LONDON (Reuters) - Party leaders pledged on Tuesday to make it easier for women, ethnic minorities and the disabled to become members of parliament.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Conservative leader David Cameron and Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg appeared in turn before a rarely convened parliamentary committee called the Speaker's Conference, tasked with making the House of Commons more representative.

"Seen from the outside, parliament is not yet fit for the 21st century," Brown said, adding that more needed to be done to reduce the dominance of white male MPs.

Fewer than 20 percent of MPs are female, while just two percent are black or Asian, compared to 8 percent of the wider population.

Brown said he hoped that between 120 and 140 women MPs would be elected for Labour at the next election, compared with fewer than 100 now.

The party would use all-women shortlists for some seats, as well as ensuring that in relevant seats the list of potential candidates contained a majority of black and Asian candidates, as will be permitted under the Equalities Bill.

"Our aim is to get a House of Commons, a parliament, that more accurately reflects all the faces and the different ethnic groups of our countries," he said.

Cameron said under-representation of women and ethnic minorities was a particular issue for his party.