Scotland sees greatest proportion of honours for women

Published 30th Dec 2015

Women make up almost two-thirds of honours awarded to people in Scotland - more than in any other part of the UK.

Some 59% of 2016's recipients are female in Scotland, compared with a UK-wide figure of 48%.

Other areas of the country in which women outscore men include Wales (57%), south-west England (52%) and London and north-east England (both 51%).

By contrast, just over a third (36%) of recipients in the East Midlands are female - the lowest proportion anywhere in the UK.

Next door in the West Midlands, women receive 43% of all honours.

The national average of 48% is down two percentage points on the figure for 2015, and three points lower than the number for 2014. But the proportion of awards for women at senior levels (classed as knighthood, damehood or C-level) is up from 31% in the 2015 birthday honours to 38%. Historically, the number of new year honours awarded to women has risen gradually, from just 17% in 1974 to 28% in 1994 and 34% in 2004.