The United Kingdom elected more than 200 women to Parliament on Thursday, breaking the record for female members of Parliament in the House of Commons.
Fantastic to see so many female MPs getting seats #GE2017
— Remona Aly (@RemonaAly) June 9, 2017
New record for number of female MPs in U.K. parliament set this morning! 201 up from previous record of 191 #cracktheceiling
— Michelle Warbis (@michellewarbis) June 9, 2017
According to the Telegraph, Thursday’s election results surpassed 2015’s record of 191 women with a new high of 201. The new record also broke past the 196 female Parliament members elected during the course of the last parliament.
U.K. is also celebrating their first female Sikh member of Parliament, with the election of Labour’s Preet Kaur Gill.
In 1918, Constance Markievicz became the first woman elected to Parliament after passage of the Parliament (Qualification of Women) Act, which let women become candidates. However, it was Nancy Astor who became the first woman to be elected and take her seat in the Commons in 1919.
In 2015, the total number of female members of Parliament surpassed the number of male members in a single parliament.
H/T the Telegraph