By BBC political correspondent Reeta Chakrabarti

When 80 years ago this week, Nancy Astor rose to make her first speech in Parliament, she had more than stagefright to contend with.

As the first female MP to take her seat, she was regarded by many of her male colleagues as an intruder, to be at best tolerated, and at worst actively humiliated.

They did everything they could to make her life uncomfortable, from refusing to give her a seat on the corner so that she would have to clamber over their legs, to using a debate on venereal disease to put up graphic pictures in the lobby.

Even a visit to the toilet was turned into a trial, as she was forced to use one in the most inaccessible part of the building.

'The club'

Elements of the boy's club atmosphere persist to this day, although with female MPs now at a record 121, it is considerably more low key.

Angela Browning, who sits on the Tory frontbench, and like Nancy Astor is a Devon MP, says that women can use the system to their advantage.

"Male MPs feel a greater need to conform to the expectations of the club.

"They're often so keen to succeed that they worry excessively about putting a foot wrong.

"Women are usually more sensible and can just ignore that sort of pressure and get on with the job."

Age she says, is often also a factor.

She was in her mid forties before being elected. "Having brought up two boys, you're a lot less susceptible to being bossed around."

Women disagree over just what difference the increase in their numbers has made to the atmosphere at Westminster.

Claire Ward, who was one of the 101 Labour women elected in 1997, says there are so many other women in the Commons now that there is always someone to find solidarity with.

She says those men who found the sudden discussion of family responsibilities, working hours and maternity leave disturbing, have now realised things have to change.

But a female Conservative colleague says there is too much focus on numbers, arguing that the sudden surge in women in the 1997 intake has had little effect on what is debated, or on the tone of debate.

'Forging ahead'

The Scottish Parliament and the Welsh Assembly have forged ahead on the numbers issue - they have nearly 40% women, Westminster has less than 20%.

Roseanna Cunningham, who as a Scottish National Party MP and MSP sits in both Westminster and Edinburgh, says there are marked differences between the two institutions but is unsure how much is due to the higher numbers of women.

Certainly a significant number of the front bench and shadow front bench are women, and you frequently get mainly women in debates, especially in committees. But there's a degree of informality in Edinburgh which Westminster would find very strange.

"For example there's no settled way of how you refer to members - in Westminster its as the MP for such and such, but in Edinburgh you frequently use first names."

She agrees that Westminster retains the overwhelming atmosphere of a Victorian gentleman's club, and its one that she dislikes, but thinks it is partly a function of the institution's age.

"It probably alienates more women than men, but I'd imagine there are quite a few men, particularly the younger ones, or those not from privileged backgrounds, who dislike it too."

The way in which parliamentary business at Westminster is organised is also fiercely criticised by some.

Tory MP Caroline Spelman, who has young children, says the tradition of debates not starting in the chamber till the afternoon and then sometimes going on late into the night is old fashioned, and makes life very difficult for parents.

Reforming the sitting hours is a controversial issue, as any MP whose constituency and family are not within commuting distance of London would get no benefit from a nine to five day.

'Balancing life'

But it remains a gruelling schedule - and if it's hard on backbenchers, its arguably harder still on ministers.

When Yvette Cooper was made a junior minister at the Department of Health last year within months of having a baby, speculation was rife about how she'd cope with the long working hours.

"Like any parent of a small child I could do with more sleep," she says, "But there's a growing recognition in Parliament, in government and across the country that people need to balance work and family life.

"That makes it easier for me to do my job as a minister than it would have been ten years ago - it's partly as a result of other women ministers and female MPs as well."

Westminster is indisputably much changed since Nancy Astor's time - but women MPs still face the problem of whether to conform to the culture, and just get on with the business of being an MP, or whether to try and reform it.

It is a dilemma many are still trying to resolve.