Female MPs from Kent and Sussex part of empowerment exhibition

  • Watch Sally Simmonds' report below

Female MPs from Kent and Sussex have taken part in a new exhibition in Westminster that has replaced portraits of male MPs with photographs of all the current female ones.

It is called "209 Women" and the idea is to encourage more females into this male dominated world, and to celebrate the range of backgrounds of those in Parliament now.

Female faces on the walls of Portcullis House in Westminster

The road to equality started over 150 years ago with campaigns for women's votes.

In February 1918, most women were given the vote and later that year they were allowed to stand for Parliament.

MP for Lewes, Maria Caulfield, stands in a pub in the village of Firle in her photos.

She says the exhibition shows a range of ages, races, backgrounds, but that there aren't enough.

MP for Faversham and Mis Kent, Helen Whately, says that until the number of female and male MPs is equal, it is still important to highlight the disparity.