Perceived obstruction of the Labour government's legislative programme in the mid-1970s sparked renewed interest in tackling the House of Lords. A Labour Party study group recommended outright abolition and this was adopted as policy, notwithstanding questions about the practicalities. The Prime Minister, James Callaghan, failed to prevent this; and his last minute attempt to block its inclusion in the 1979 manifesto, while successful, led to a major row which had significant repercussIons. The alternative policy was then to curtail drastically the Lords' powers, at least as a first step, but the arguments continued into the early 1980s. Labour's policy was a major influence in leading the Conservatives to set up a committee under Lord Home, which in ] 978 came forward with radical proposals, involving a partly or wholly elected chamber. However, these were never formally adopted as Conservative policy and, in office, particularly after the emphatic election victory of 1983, ministers became increasingly complacent and content to maintain the status quo. The Lords meanwhile showed themselves willing to defeat the government on occasion; but while this may have been an irritant, on crucial issues it could usually rely on 'backwoodsmen' to get its way and the Thatcher government seems never seriously to have contemplated legislation. The expenence of opposition in the 1980s led Labour, with the Parliamentary leadership more to the fore in its Policy Review, to change its approach. Now seeing the second chamber as a potential ally in safeguarding future reforms to constitutional and human rights, it supported a fully elected chamber; and the position of the Liberal Democrats was broadly similar. The question of Lords' reform had a significant influence on the politics of the time. illustrating the potential uses and limitations of prime ministerial power and changing perspectives between government and opposition

This thesis set out to discern how women's representation, as a multi-faceted concept and process, plays out in the context of the House of Lords. The primary motivation of this inquiry concerned the reality that women are persistently under-represented in political chambers worldwide. Beyond this, scholarship has overlooked the site of the House of Lords despite significant advances made in women's presence that facilitate closer analysis. This is also compounded by the status of the chamber itself: in its 'transitional' phase post the passing of the House of Lords Act 1999 the chamber is suggested to act with greater legitimacy and effectiveness. Finally concentration upon the representation of women in the transitional House of Lords is pertinent as the chamber remains in a state of flux and there is an opportunity to prioritise women's representation as a key plank of the reform agenda. Normative feminist interpretations of representation are the primary frameworks of analysis. Methodologically, this research inquiry synthesised and triangulated the use of quantitative and qualitative research techniques in order to unpack the processes and influences upon all dimensions of women's political representation in the House of Lords. This helped to present a sufficiently nuanced analysis. There have been obvious attempts to numerically feminise the chamber, although there are systemic de facto and de jure reserved seats for men in the chamber which guard against radical improvements in women's descriptive presence. Women peers undertake important roles and the House of Lords maintains a culture and institutional norms that are befitting for women and feminised styles of politics which is positive for the symbolic representation of women. Finally, women peers actively seek to represent women through the agenda-setting features of the Lords, although the way this is manifested is mediated by political affiliation. The opportunities to substantively represent women through the legislative features of the House of Lords are narrower, although both male and female peers have successfully influenced legislative output to act for women.