List of female cabinet members of the United Kingdom

Fifty-six women have been appointed to positions in the Cabinet of the United Kingdom, with three female Prime Ministers serving in cabinet. Since, by convention, members of the cabinet must be a member of either the House of Commons or House of Lords, the Prime Minister could not appoint women to the cabinet until the Parliament (Qualification of Women) Act 1918 allowed women to stand for MP, and could not appoint peeresses to it until the Life Peerages Act 1958.

Female prime ministers

Three women have led the cabinet as prime minister.

  denotes the first female minister of that particular department.

Female cabinet members

  denotes the first female minister of that particular department.

Female ministers also attending cabinet

Some roles, such as the Attorney General, can attend cabinet meetings without being a member of the cabinet.

  denotes the first female minister of that particular department.

Notable members

Baroness Amos became the first black woman to be appointed to the cabinet in 2003. In 2011, Justine Greening became the first member of the cabinet who was publicly known to be a lesbian, although she was not openly lesbian until 2016.

References