Jeremy Corbyn and Owen Smith have promised to change party rules to ensure that in future there will be at least one woman in post as the leader or as a deputy leader of the party.
Both leadership contenders have also guaranteed that the number of female Labour MPs will not be reduced by boundary changes, which are expected to be announced next month.
The pledges have been made as the first ballot papers were due to be sent out on Monday to more than 640,000 Labour party members and supporters in the bitterly fought contest.
Corbyn remains the favourite and has overwhelming support among Labour’s members and trade unions. However, he is opposed by a majority of Labour’s MPs, who have focused on his alleged lacklustre EU referendum campaign as proof that he is an electoral liability.
It also comes as Corbyn has pledged to democratise the party’s national executive if he wins – a move that will be widely seen as a plan to ensure that his supporters gain a stronger grip over the party.
With the Conservatives having now produced their second female prime minister, both candidates for the Labour leadership appear to be moving to establish their credentials on the issue of gender equality.
In response to a Labour Women’s Network questionnaire, both Corbyn and Smith said they would support a rule change in future to ensure Labour has at least one woman in the leadership team – defined by the network as the leader or a deputy leader of the party.
A source close to Corbyn’s campaign said that moves to increase female representation could be used to replace Tom Watson, the current deputy leader despite the fact that he has his own personal mandate for the role.
“The argument for a female deputy leader is one that has a lot of support. It could be alongside or in place of Watson,” the source said.
A spokesman for Smith said he would ask the party’s national executive committee to bring forward changes within a year of his leadership and before any future leadership or deputy leadership contest.
Many female Labour MPs were disappointed that a chance to have a woman as leader was lost when Smith knocked Angela Eagle out of the competition against Corbyn.
Critics have complained that all three of the party’s mayoral candidates for the elections next year are male, and point out that Labour had also fielded men in the two major mayoral contests held this year – Sadiq Khan in London and Marvin Rees in Bristol.
New figures released today demonstrate the growth in the party’s membership. It is estimated there were 343,500 fully paid up members entitled to a vote in the election.
Their numbers will be supplemented by 129,000 registered supporters who made a one-off payment of £25 last month so they would be able to vote.
A further 168,000 affiliated supporters who are members of affiliated organisations such as trade unions also have a vote – although that number is expected to rise as the unions are still processing some 20,000 applications.
Corbyn last night launched his own plans to democratise the party if he wins, including a plan to “create a charter of rights for party members and support moves to widen representation on the national executive to reflect the huge increase in party membership”.
His enemies claim that he would seek to control the party’s executive to tighten the grip of the left of the party.
In a further boost for Corbyn, seven leaders from some of Britain’s most prominent unions including Len McCluskey have written to the Guardian endorsing Corbyn as leader and urging their members to support him.
At a setpiece meeting in his constituency on Monday morning, Smith will appeal to party members by outlining the scale of the crisis facing the Labour movement.
Meanwhile, supporters of Corbyn have dismissed criticisms by Sadiq Khan after the London mayor urged Labour party members to ditch their leader and back his rival.
In a stinging attack in the Observer on Sunday, Khan said Corbyn had failed to win the trust of voters and that Labour was extremely unlikely to secure a return to power as long as he remained leader.
Matt Wrack, the leftwing general secretary of the Fire Brigades Union and a strong supporter of Corbyn, said Khan’s comments were “a little bit disappointing but possibly no great surprise”.
“Sadiq comes from that part of the Labour party that was in government under Blair and Brown,” Wrack told BBC News.
Party members will receive their ballots by post as well as an email with an online ballot code – giving them a choice as to how they vote – but supporters will receive only an online ballot. Online voting codes will be sent out during the course of Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.
Voting closes at noon on 21 September and the final result will be announced at a special leadership conference in Liverpool on 24 September. Jeremy Corbyn and Owen Smith have promised to change party rules to ensure that in future there will be at least one woman in post as the leader or as a deputy leader of the party.
