SCOTTISH Labour has suffered a setback after the UK party snubbed all-women shortlists for a number of Westminster target seats.
Party leader Johann Lamont and Shadow Scottish Secretary Margaret Curran are long-standing supporters of "positive action" to ensure more women become elected representatives.
However, when a UK Labour committee considered five key Commons seats for Scotland earlier this month, only one of the constituencies was recommended for a female-only list.
At Holyrood, around 48% of Labour MSPs are female, a far higher proportion than any other political party.
By contrast, around 25% of the Scottish Labour contingent at Westminster are women, a divergence that has been a source of frustration for equality campaigners.
In 2005, Ms Curran, at that point an MSP, said: "You've more chance of being a Scottish Labour MP if you're called James or John than if you're a woman, just as there are more Davids in the Tory shadow cabinet than there are women."
Ms Lamont said last year a "long look" was needed at "positive action measures" for Holyrood.
Earlier this month, Labour's organisation sub-committee met to discuss whether more than two dozen Westminster targets across the UK would be all-women shortlists (AWS) or open to anyone regardless of gender.
Of the five Scottish seats considered, The Herald understands three – Dundee East, Argyll and Bute, and East Dunbartonshire – were strong contenders for female-only shortlists. However, the committee only recommended one – Argyll – as an AWS.
It is understood the trade unions helped make Dundee East and East Dunbartonshire open contests as local trade unionists stand a chance of getting the nominations in these seats.
A Labour source said the unions had "turned over" the leadership in an successful bid to help their preferred candidates.
Problems with a local AWS consultation in a sixth seat, Falkirk, meant a decision in this case has been deferred.
Making only one of the five Scottish seats an AWS was also out of kilter with the rest of the committee's decisions.
According to the authoritative Labour List website, 13 of the 28 targets seats were approved as female-only.
Scottish Labour will now have to depend on sitting MPs retiring if more all-women shortlists are to be introduced.
At Holyrood, measures have already been put in place that could increase the proportion of female MSPs from 48%.
The Scottish party recently approved a mechanism whereby Holyrood seats will be "twinned", with one constituency selecting a female candidate and the other nominating a male.
A Scottish Labour spokesman: "We have led the way among the political parties in equal representation since the Scottish Parliament was created and we will continue to set the standard by putting forward more bright female candidates.
"When Labour across the UK selects its new candidates for the Westminster election in 2015, our aim is for half of them to be women while work is ongoing to twin our Scottish Parliament constituencies based on gender so we will continue to have a group of MSPs which reflect the communities across Scotland they represent."
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