Ceremonial maces in the United Kingdom carried by the Yeoman Usher of the Black Rod and placed behind the Lord Speaker on the Woolsack before the House sits. All members are required to bow their heads to the mace upon entering the chamber. It is absent when the monarch delivers his or her speech from the throne at State Openings of Parliament. The other mace accompanies the Lord Chancellor on official duties outside the House of Lords. Mace A was made in the reign of Charles II , is long and weighs . Mace B was made in the reign of William III and Mary II
Women in the House of Lords was the first woman leader of the House of Lords in 1981. Baroness Hale of Richmond became the first female Law Lord in 2004. Since the passage of the House of Lords Act 1999, hereditary peeresses remain eligible for election to the Upper House; there is one (Countess of Mar) among the 90 hereditary peers who continue to sit. Following a change to the law in 2014 to allow women to be ordained bishops, the Lords Spiritual (Women) Act 2015 was passed, which provides that whenever a vacancy arises among the Lords Spiritual during the ten years following the Act