Frustrated as I want to be able to do my job & contribute to our analysis of the NHS white paper, but basically cant, bc schools & childcare shut. Obv other women (mainly) are in similar position, so I wondered what the impact had been on their involvement in policy making >>

So I had a look at who has been giving evidence to Commons select committees on important matters of the day. Lists of who is appearing as an "expert witness" are published daily in the House of Commons business papers here https://commonsbusiness.parliament.uk/2021-02-04 

Obvs I can only do this in a half arsed way, because: see above. Also, past biz papers only available from Sept 2020. But, picking 2 weeks: Week beginning Sept 14 2020, when *most* schools open. 67 witnesses to select committees, 27 (40%) women

Feb 1 2021, when most school kids at home: 95 witnesses to select committees, of which just *26* were women (27%). But that week the Home Affairs cttee had a hearing on domestic abuse, at which all witnesses were women. Take that hearing out of the equation and only 23.5% women

again I repeat the half arsed caveat above. Hopefully someone will come along and do this properly. But I would like to add that I'm conscious that clerks at Commons committees actually try pretty hard to get gender balanced witness panels. Which makes these figs even worse

(btw I excluded ministers when totting up witness numbers. Figs almost certainly worse if they are included)