Why has the political representation of women been so low?

When I think about politics, what springs to my mind is male dominance and male representations. You are probably asking why, well continue reading and all will become clear. The discussion of women’s position in politics is usually based on the exclusion or lack of representation regarding women in politics. In everyday life it is women who face numerous trajectories, and this was prevalent during the 1918’s. During this time, only some women received the right to vote and by some, I am referring to women who were ONLY over 30 and women who ONLY owned their properties or their husband’s owned properties. This was one step towards identifying how women were seen through the lens of men for years.

The notion of male dominated politics meant that ‘men make the moral code and they expect women to accept it’ (Pankhurst, 1914:268). This exact ideology is one that signifies why women are underrepresented in politics. Women constantly endure the scrutiny of belonging to labels that promote negative connotations. One of the popular labels directed at women in the political realm is ‘promiscuous’. Judgement of promiscuous women in politics could be one factor that makes women reject the idea of being leaders, engaging or being represented in politics. Female politicians have long since received sexualised abuse from men that could be anything from rape threats to hate mail. There are countless cases of female politicians receiving public threats through networks such as, Twitter. For example, Walthamstow Labour MP Stella Creasy is one illustration of how female politicians are treated not only in the UK but internationally.  ‘Stella Creasy was threatened with rape for supporting the feminist campaigner Caroline Criado-Perez’ (Guardian, 2013). The image bellow shows just one of many Twitter threads used to slander the MP and highlights why women would be concerned or lack interest in the political world. Tell me, after reading this would you want to pursue a female position in politics?

Stella Creasy is one of numerous victims of such behaviour, alongside women like Melina Trump whom also faced the same treatment on Twitter for not fitting societies respectable expectations of women due to her past occupation. Such statements show not only what type of women it takes to be in political power, but also why women would not want to be at the forefront of politics. By nature, women are emotional characters and although many politicians handle abuse extremely well, there is a bigger picture here and that is, why would women want to ‘handle abuse’ when simply staying away from politics keeps away this abuse.

Another element as to why women are underrepresented in politics could be the injustices faced when trying to achieve equality for men and women and what or how long it takes to get there. Women have fought for many years to gain things like the right to vote. The Women Suffragettes Movement is an example of one historical political campaign that lasted throughout the course of 62 years and is one of the greatest examples of fighting for equality for women. This movement took place to call on the minds of women to ‘fight for equality within patriarchal societies’ (Graham, 2014: 31). At this time parliament was a machine that had evolved to run a patriarchal society where women’s interests were deemed to be subsumed in those of men. ‘Despite women’s best efforts, the campaigns impinged on the workings of the government. Indeed, the goal was only achieved in 1918 (Crawford,2003: 10). Even when achieved in the 1918’s the percentage of women MPs elected during the general elections in 1918 remained at just 0% (House of commons library, 2018). It is not only evident here, that women had to first fight for their injustices but, with 1866 being the first petition submitted to Parliament calling for votes for women and women’s vote only being achieved in 1918, you can see it also took a long duration of time for these injustices to be implemented.

Furthermore, recent literature has also suggested that although, inequalities that exist between men and women have lessened, the fight for full equality remains. Author Tadro (2014) uses the term descriptive representations to suggest that there are biases in the recruitment practise of male elites leading them to select fewer women as well as, the prejudices on the part of voters preferring to elect men over women (Tadros, 2014: 5). This is significantly demonstrated when assessing women in the house of commons. The table below shows that in 2017 only 32% of women in the UK parliament and elected bodies by party, were in the House of commons (House of commons library, 2018).

From this alone it is clear that women remain inferior to men in the political world and other sectors of the world. After many years, the issue remains that women are neither treated fairly in politics or adequately represented. With social changes being implemented we are moving towards greater equality and greater spaces for women to engage in politics from all points of view. However, the problem remains, how much longer will the gap in men and women remain present? and what can we collectively do to make sure women are and want to be represented in politics.

 

 

 

 

Bibliography

Crawford, E. (2003). The women’s suffrage movement. London: Routledge, p.10.

Graham, A. (2014). Women’s Suffrage Movement. [online] Jstor.org. Available at: http://www.jstor.org/stable/refuseserq.54.2.31?read-now=1&seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents [Accessed 29 Mar. 2018].

House of commons library (2018) Women in Parliament and Government briefing paper Number SNO1250 12 February 2018. London: House of Commons.

House of commons library (2018) Women in Parliament and Government briefing paper Number SNO1250 1

Jones, S. (2013). Labour MP Stella Creasy receives Twitter rape threats. [online] The Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/jul/29/labour-mp-stella-creasy-twitter-rape-threats [Accessed 29 Mar. 2018].

Tadros, M. (2014). Women in politics. London: Zed Books, p.5.

Twitter. (2013). Stella Creasy on Twitter. [online] Available at: https://twitter.com/stellacreasy/status/361778205704720384 [Accessed 29 Mar. 2018].