The House Service: ‘Servants’ and ‘Stewards’

This chapter explores the parliamentary administration of the UK House of Commons. Comparative literature stresses that different types of parliaments emphasise different staffing structures in accordance with the varying importance attached to different parliamentary functions. Therefore, the arrangement of the UK House of Commons parliamentary administration is at the very heart of parliamentary democracy. The effective work environment of parliamentary staff not only contributes to parliamentary strengthening but also makes parliaments more gender-just workplaces. To date though, analyses of gendering in parliamentary administrations, beyond self-reporting, are few and far between. The chapter fills gaps by exploring how changes to MPs’ work can have knock-on effects for parliamentary staff. It explores how staff are rotated through different departments and how gender was rendered (in)visible in a high-profile recruitment process. It then explores Workplace Equality Networks that were going through a process of institutionalisation at the time of research and may be critical actors for gender equality in the parliamentary workplace. Finally, the chapter explores how members of the parliamentary administration negotiate discourses of service and stewardship in public engagement and in how they navigate inadequate bullying and harassment arrangements.