The representation of women in elected positions in Wales is not mirrored by the number of women giving evidence

Wales has made more progress on gender equality in its elected bodies than Westminster or the other devolved governments. However, Rebecca Rumbul’s research indicates that the number of non-elected women giving evidence to committees in the Welsh National Assembly is much lower, and in one third of the cases all the participants were male. She writes that this points to a level of normalisation of gender imbalance in the provision of oral evidence, and potentially reduces the quality and breadth of scrutiny.