Westminster's glass ceiling has a serious fissure

It is the photo, taken seconds after a televised debate had ended, of three women party leaders enjoying a group hug while Ed Miliband of Labour and Ukip's Nigel Farage look on awkwardly. How very un-British, but how thunderingly up to the minute. For this was the year when the boys' club that is British politics welcomed scores of new, women members, whether it wanted them or not.

Certainly, there was still much that was pale, male and stale about GE2015, but there was vibrant, female and up for a fight too. As of yesterday, with a handful of results still to be declared, the number of women MPs had reached the 190 mark (a record 30 per cent of the total), up from 143 (22 per cent) in 2010. In Scotland, 20 women MPs (34 per cent) were elected.

While all this is still a long way from the magic number of 50 per cent, or 325 MPs, representing half the population, consider that in 1918, when women first secured the vote, a grand total of one woman (Countess Markievicz) was elected. In 1945 the tally was 24. By 1992 it was still only 60.

No need to call the building inspectors just yet, then, but Westminster's glass ceiling, like Holyrood's, now has a serious fissure in it.

But then, when have women not played a significant role in British politics? Women have been electing representatives and standing for office for coming up to a century now. Many of those MPs have been mould-breakers, from Nancy Astor (first women to take her seat in Parliament) to Jennie Lee, Barbara Castle, Shirley Williams, Margaret Thatcher (first woman prime minister) Betty Boothroyd (first woman speaker), Diane Abbott (first black woman MP), Winnie Ewing (first female SNP MP), Margo MacDonald, and Caroline Lucas (first Green MP).

Women, moreover, are used to being courted by politicians for their votes. Although less likely to vote than men, every party goes after the female vote though few are sure of the best way to go about it other than appearing on mumsnet, wheeling out the wife, or staging a finger-painting photo op at the nearest nursery.

In this election, women mattered because of who they were and what they achieved, not for the votes they gave male politicians. Three factors in particular make the class of 2015 exceptional. First, there are more of them. Secondly, they are occupying, or heading towards, the top jobs in their parties. Thirdly, they are now a firm part of the political establishment. Women politicians are here and, despite political differences, they are very clear about one thing: Britain had better get used to it. Given the prominence of women in GE2015, it would be unthinkable for GE2020 to go back to how it used to be.

Most notable was the way women leaders grabbed the attention, none more so than Nicola Sturgeon, SNP leader and Scotland's First Minister. For many outside Scotland this was their first glimpse of Ms Sturgeon, and they liked what they saw. Confident, articulate, in command of her arguments, reasonable but passionate, no wonder so many took to social media asking how they could vote for her (answer: unless they lived in Scotland they could not).

The other women party leaders, Leanne Wood of Plaid Cymru and Nathalie Bennett of the Green Party, were very much the warm-ups to Sturgeon's classier act. Ms Wood relied more on heat than light to get her points across, while Bennett had a campaign that was patchy at best, her biggest achievement bringing the phrase "brain fade" to the lexicon following a disastrous radio interview in which she appeared a stranger to the facts.

Mention of Ms Bennett and her brain fade is a reminder that it was not all positive when it came to women and this election. Some women MPs - the Lib Dems' entire female contingent among them - lost their jobs. Women as a whole were still judged on their appearance more than men. Great for Totty Rocks, the Edinburgh fashion house which designs Ms Sturgeon's clothes - it must have had tens of thousands in free advertising - but not so good for women in general.

Then there was the curious case of The Belfast Telegraph, which decided that its contribution to the cause would be a feature comparing how candidates, male and female, looked in their election posters. Guess which candidates attracted praise for "plunging necklines", lip gloss, and "come hither smiles"? Sometimes, it was women themselves doing the pigeon-holing, as when Labour unveiled a pink battle bus aimed at encouraging women to vote. Widespread derision followed.

What was noticeable, however, was not the sexism but the way it was promptly tackled. Feminists, male and female, rushed to Twitter and newspaper comment sections, calling out the boorish and misogynistic. But occasionally it was still one step forward and two back. The media still had trouble treating male and female politicians equally. In one particularly cringeworthy moment, a woman interviewer asked Ms Sturgeon why she did not have children. Would such a question have been posed to a man? Not likely. The closest men got to home-and-hearth territory in this election was being interviewed in their kitchens, with their wives present.

Even with a record number of women elected, there is still far to go. If this is a sexual revolution it is moving at the speed of molasses uphill. Increasing the number of women in politics is not just about having female leaders, but women voting in greater numbers, joining parties, and standing for election. Only then, and with more parties adopting all women shortlists, will parliament stop looking like Jurassic Park and start resembling the real world it seeks to represent.