ADMISSION OF WOMEN. (Hansard, 23 October 1918)

§ Colonel Sir JAMES CRAIG
After the overwhelming majority in favour of the Motion which you have put from the Chair, I rise to do what I consider to be the only right thing, and which I feel confident Members in all quarters of the House will support, and that is to throw open the Members' Gallery equally and impartially to men and women. The House of Lords have passed a Resolution of that kind. I obtained a 859 record of their proceedings on 21st July, and I noticed that all it says in regard to the Strangers' Gallery is, The Committee agreed to the proposal made by the Lord Chairman of Committees that ladies should be admitted to the Strangers' Gallery. I also referred to the report of the Committee which has sat on this question in connection with this House, and I ascertained that evidence was given by various Members, including yourself, Mr. Speaker, and also by the Serjeant-at-Arms. In 1908 that Committee, which was a very representative one from all parts of the House, issued their Report. If hon. Members desire to look at the record they will find it in Volume 9, page 1. In paragraph 15, which is the part of the Report affecting the Motion which I have now made, they come to a unanimous conclusion. I will quote their opinion, as it represents really all that need be said on this subject: We also think that it would be desirable for men and women alike to be admissible to the Members' Gallery. It is a common experience of Members that a man and his wife or daughter constantly apply or come for admission at the same time. The man gets a place in the Gallery and the lady has to be taken into the Ladies' Gallery and brought back again. When applications are made by letter a ticket can be sent to the man, often not to the lady. We believe that the admission of both sexes to the Gallery will be a convenience to the public and will be favourable to order and its maintenance. It is already the practice in several foreign Assemblies. Before being adopted, however, it would be right, as Mr. Speaker in his evidence suggested, to obtain the consent of the House to the change. Since then, I think, nothing has occurred in any sense to affect the decision which was then come to by that Committee set up specially for the purpose. It is quite true that my Motion is worded a little wider than that suggestion, and I would ask the leave of the House to alter the Motion standing in my name, to read That this House is in favour of the Members' Gallery being opened to men and women equally and impartially, and requests Mr. Speaker to make arrangements accordingly. I have made inquiries from all sections of the House, and Members seem to have come to the conclusion that it would be desirable for the convenience of the public, as well as for the convenience of Members, that the present Ladies' Gallery should remain a Ladies' Gallery, for the simple reason that the wives of Members desire to come down on important occasions to hear the Debate, while single ladies very 860 often come to the House without any attendants, and ask for a seat. It would be more convenient on many occasions to give them a seat in the present Ladies' Gallery, instead of putting them into the Members' Gallery. We shall preserve, as at present, the special Gallery under the Gallery, which is very convenient for Members who have friends interested in Bills whom they wish to consult. It is the opinion of the House that that very small Gallery downstairs would be well maintained in its present status. The whole point is that we should throw open the "Members'" Gallery to both sexes alike. I am sure Members will agree with me that it has been somewhat irksome that when men and women come here—sometimes it may be a father and daughter or a husband and wife—they have to be separated.
We know that in the most interesting Debates one has to leave his place to seek out friends in a crowded Lobby. He has to talk to them for a little while, and then discovers that there is a desire to come into the House to hear a Debate. One has to separate them and make a special request to the Sergeant-at-Arms for tickets. He may or may not be able to give them, or he may give a ticket for a lady and not for a man. If he does give both you have, first of all, to pilot the man to the entrance, whether the entrance to the "Members'" Gallery or the "Special" Gallery, and then to take the lady round the back of the Lobbies to the Ladies' Gallery, find a place for her, and then return to your seat. This often occupies—I have timed it myself—from a quarter of an hour to twenty minutes. At a busy period of the Session, especially in summer, when one's friends are passing through London, it is sometimes a serious hardship on a Member to occupy so much of his time, in order simply to see that friends may get seats in the Gallery. My suggestion is that women would apply at the ticket office, as men do at present, and everybody should be able to take his or her place in the Gallery without having to trouble a Member at all. That is a great convenience to many who very often do not desire to trouble a Member, but want to hear a Debate. I hope that the House will appreciate the course which I suggest. I do not desire to make any very radical change in the matter, but I desire to make a change which will convenience all concerned, and meet with the 861 approval of the outside public, as well as of Members of the House, I therefore propose my Resolution in its altered form: That this House is in favour of the Members' Gallery being opened to men and women equally and impartially, and requests Mr. Speaker to make arrangements accordingly.

§ Sir GEORGE TOULMIN
I beg to second the Motion.—[HON. MEMBERS: "Agreed!"]

§ Colonel YATE
May I point out that ladies are at present allowed to come into the Ladies' Gallery while prayers are going on. If my brother and sister come to the House, my sister is allowed to go into the Ladies' Gallery and be present at prayers, but my brother is not allowed to go into the Members' Gallery until prayers have concluded. If ladies are now allowed into the Members' Gallery I would ask if those who go into the Ladies' Gallery will be allowed to be present during prayers? I think it advisable that they should.

§ Mr. SPEAKER
If the House accepts this Motion I do not think that it means that the Members' Gallery is to be opened before prayers. No change is proposed in this respect, and under the suggested arrangement ladies who wish to go into the Members' Gallery would only have to wait five minutes until prayers have concluded.

§ Mr. RENDALL
Personally I much regret the alteration which has been made in the Resolution. I think it most unfair to give ladies a preference in this way. Equality will not be obtained if you give ladies a preference in the Ladies' Gallery and give them an equal chance with men in the Strangers' Gallery. Therefore, I propose to ask the House to agree to the reinsertion of the words which have been omitted.

§ Sir J. CRAIG
Perhaps I may be allowed to remind the hon. Member that there might be considerable difficulties, but that later on, if it were desired, it would be a very simple matter to do, and perhaps the hon. Member would allow the Motion to go without amendment. I have consulted a good many Members on all sides of the House, and I have made the change at their request, as well as at the request of some of the officials of the House.

§ Mr. RENDALL
I quite realise that there may be difficulties, but I think that some protest ought to be made to let the public understand that it is not our intention 862 to make permanent this arrangement that gives an advantage to women over men. I have always been in favour of women exercising equal rights with men, but not of giving them a preference. Members' wives do not come in large numbers to the House, and personally I think that we shall find the Ladies' Gallery often empty while the other Gallery is overcrowded. That would be very disadvantageous. As the hon. Baronet has taken some trouble over the matter, and has gathered opinion from all quarters, I will not move my Amendment.