"IT DOES matter that our councils and our state are reflective of the communities they serve," says Jenny Chapman, who in 2010, became Darlington’s first female MP in the seat’s 150-year history.

"It is important for sustaining democracy, and also because it effects decisions that are made and the priorities that are set."

This year’s International Women’s Day is all about the progress towards parity. This year is also the 100th anniversary of the first women getting the vote, and next year will see the centenary of the first woman MP, Viscountess Nancy Astor, taking her seat.

But women have struggled to get parity in Parliament. The 1992 election returned a record 60 women out of a total of 650, and the 1997 election doubled that to 120, of which 101 were “Blair’s Babes” – Labour female MPs encouraged by the change of tone of the Sedgefield MP’s New Labour party.

Last year’s election saw the number of female MPs climb further to 208. But that is still less than a third of the House.

“The situation has improved massively, and it is now possible to be a female MP in a way that it wasn’t a couple of decades ago,” says Mrs Chapman.

“The Commons can still be a bear pit, especially at Prime Ministers’ Questions, but most of the time it is civilised, and I don’t know of any female MPs who cannot make the case they want to make.

“We’ve now had five or six parliaments where women have been nearly a third, and I think you wouldn’t have seen the emphasis on tackling domestic abuse or providing services like SureStart for children if you hadn’t had women standing up and shouting about them.

“I don’t think being a woman in itself makes you a different kind of leader but I do think that having parliaments that better reflect their populations makes for better governance, but that is not saying female MPs are better than male MPs. Male MPs can champion childcare or domestic abuse – they can and they do.”

Mrs Chapman is the mother of two teenage boys, and although she lives in London during the week and returns home for weekends, she feels changes in Commons hours have improved her family life.

“Both my parents were nurses and worked shifts, sometimes at short notice, often overnight, always on Christmas Day and throughout school holidays, so my work/life balance is pretty good compared to that of people who work in the health service or policing or retail,” she says.

There is a huge disparity between the parties. Only 21 per cent of Conservative MPs are women – although, of course, Theresa May is the second Tory female Prime Minister – whereas 45 per cent of Labour MPs are women. This is largely because, since 2002, Labour has controversially encouraged some constituencies to select candidates from an all-woman shortlist.

“I was one of only four women selected in 2010 on an open list which tells you that normally nearly every seat will select a man,” says Mrs Chapman. “All women shortlists have made a difference, but they haven’t really dealt with the underlying causes that stop women standing. They are a sticking plaster, because 25 years on, we still have the same issues.”

She believes that those issues are to be found at the grass roots of politics, where she started her career as a local councillor. “Only 17 per cent of council leaders are women,” she says. “That make you question what’s going on in town halls that’s putting women off.”

She lists a previous generation of Darlington female councillors – Stella Robinson, Dot Long, isobel Hartley, Lillian Elliott – as her role models. “They were strong advocates for their communities and achieved things locally, but never became a council leader or MP, even though each one was capable – they just never regarded it for a second.”

She is hopeful that one day the gender balance in Parliament will reflect that in the country. “I think we will get there, and to get there more quickly the answer starts in local government and supporting more women to take the first steps.”