Boris Johnson has admitted there are not enough women in senior Government and scientific posts.
The Prime Minister said he had taken “dramatic action” to address the issue during Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday.
Speaking in the Commons, Labour MP Rosie Duffield, Chair of the Women's PLP, pointed out that women make up the vast majority of the workforce for the NHS, social care and schools.
But Ms Duffield said: “There’s only a handful of women on the SAGE committee and only one woman in the cabinet has led the Downing Street briefing in the last eight weeks on very few occasions.
“Does the Prime Minister agree with me...that we need a change of tone and more female voices at the top of government to reflect the majority of the UK government population...and if not, why not?”
In response, Mr Johnson said: “I think she has an extremely important point and I’ve taken dramatic action even before a reshuffle.”
He pointed out the “two most important appointments” the Government had made recently were women.
Mr Johnson named Dido Harding, who is leading the programme of testing and tracing, and Kate Bingham, who is leading the national effort to coordinate our search for a vaccine with other countries.
The only woman to host the afternoon press conference has been Home Secretary Priti Patel.
