This year we celebrate 150 years since the first petition calling for votes for women. Currently 29% of all MPs are women, which represents a record high. Are we on the way to achieve gender equality in politics or is progress still fragile? These and other questions will be discussed in an open debate hosted by the Oxford Brookes University Centre for Diversity Policy Research and Practice and chaired by Baroness Mary Goudie. Baroness Goudie is a global advocate for the rights of women and has been a member of the British House of Lords since 1998. She is also an advisor to the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security and a founding member of the 30% Club steering committee, which aims to influence chairmen into bringing more women onto corporate boards across the world. She served as a member of the Select Committee on Sexual Violence in Conflict which reported in 2016, a task force appointed to consider the UK’s policy and practice for preventing sexual violence in conflict. The debate will be followed by drinks reception and networking