‘We need sexism training’ Tory MP admits
The Conservative party needs training to tackle its "unconscious bias" against women, a prominent MP has said.
Tory MP Theresa Coffey said the party needed to engage in some of the equality training used by top firms like Google and Microsoft.
"I'll be recommending it to our prime minister for the Conservative party," she said.
"This isn't just about women, by the way, this is about all sorts of people and trying not to have mini-mes up and down our corporate boardrooms."
Men and women usually vote in similar ways, but current polling shows the Conservatives are performing disastrously with female voters.
While Labour leads by six points among men it leads by 12 points among women.
Some analysts believe the trend is the result of more concern over public services among women voters, but there may also be an affect from David Cameron's gaffes involving women.
In 2011 the prime minister caused controversy by telling Labour frontbencher Angela Eagle to "calm down, dear".
He also prompted gales of laughter in the Commons a few months later when he told his own backbencher Nadine Dorries she was "frustrated".
There are only four women at Cabinet and just 47 of the Tories' 302 MPs are female.
