All-women shortlists (AWS) is an affirmative action practice intended to increase the proportion of female Members of Parliament (MPs) in the United Kingdom, allowing only women to stand in particular constituencies for a particular political party. Only the Liberal Democrats currently use this practice. Labour abandoned the shortlist for general election purposes in March 2022. Political parties in other countries, such as South Korea and various Latin American countries, have used practices analogous to AWS, especially in relation to government sex quotas.

The 1997 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday, 1 May 1997. The governing Conservative Party led by Prime Minister John Major was defeated in a landslide by the Labour Party led by Tony Blair, achieving a 179-seat majority.