Gender and political engagement
Throughout this blog, I will be discussing the inequalities within the political system.
Furthermore, I will be bringing attention to the tactics men in politics use to go against women and make it harder for women in the parliamentary community of practice (CoP) to be heard and put their views across.
As politics started off as a male community of practice women were not involved. Women were introduced into the parliamentary practice in the last 100 years. It is perhaps for this reason, that males in parliament might find it difficult to see women as equal colleagues. It may even be used to explained why males in parliament find it difficult to take these women seriously in parliamentary debates and deploy many different tactics to make women MPs seem inferior. It can be argued that some males, particularly in this line of work, prefer the patriarchal norms and ideals where women tend to stick to their roles in society e.g. housewives/ mothers, and males deal with the hard work, in this case politics and hold all of the power in society. Women as mentioned earlier are still relatively new to the male dominated parliamentary community of practice as can be seen in the figures put forward by the bbc:
In 2015, we can see that out of 650 MP’s there were only 191 that were female and in 2017 out of the 650 MP’s 208 were female. Although we can see an increase from 2015 to 2017 in female MPs, women still only make up 32% of MPs compared to males who make up 68%. There is more gender inequality than ever before and with women making up 50% of the UK population, the commons still have a way to go as they are still a minority in parliament. Having said this, in the UK we currently have in position as Prime Minister Theresa May. Although she was not elected in, she is the UKs second ever female Prime Minister and does hold arguably the second most powerful title after ‘The Queen’ in the UK. Even though women have gained positions of power within society, The Fawcett Society, which campaigns for women’s rights, believes that the progress on getting closer to equality has stalled. “The time has come for a legally enforceable target to achieve the radical and sustainable change we need” (Smethers, S. 2015).
Moreover, there are some men in the political system that don’t want to see change and therefore make harder for their voice to be heard and use tactics within the house of commons. In Shaw’s 2006 paper, she describes three types of rules that can be broken throughout parliamentary debates. The first rule is illegal interventions. For instance, when the speaker has given permission for someone to talk for a limited amount of time, then someone else in the chamber interrupts without permission from the speaker. This rule is more often broken by the male MP’s and gives them an advantage in ensuring they get their point across. The second rule that must be taken seriously in the chamber is that members should not part take in any filibustering. This is when during a debate an MP will use words or phrases to prolong their argument and they will also talk about irrelevant things. This tactic puts the opposition at a disadvantage as it gives them less time to speak. This is mainly used by men against women and puts an emphasis on women’s inferiority. Lastly MP’s must ensure they use the correct parliamentary language. Although this rule tends to be broken by women, it does not benefit them in any way. Using incorrect language can diminish the effectiveness of the speech and it will prompt the speaker to interrupt with the sentence “would the honourable lady use the correct parliamentary language”. This interruption gives the MP less time to speak and get their point across.
To conclude, although we have come a long way in terms of women being more involved in politics, there are still inequalities that need to be resolved. I still believe we need to increase the number of women involved in politics as there is still a significant difference when looking at the number of male MPs compared to the number of female MPs. Having a female Prime Minister definitely encourages more women to get involved in politics. Having more women involved would mean they are better represented. Furthermore issues are more likely to me resolved as there are more women highlighting the issues. In addition, I feel that men within the parliamentary community who stop progression from happening should be issued a warning and if they do not wish to comply they should either step down or be stripped of their title. This would show women we are moving in the right direction.
Bibliography
Shaw, S. (2006) Governed by the rules? the female voice in parliamentary debates . pp.81-102.
Wilson, C. (2017) Election Results 2017: The most Diverse Parliament Yet. Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-2017-40232272 (Accessed: 20/04/18).
Smethers, S. (2015) Fawcett Society. Available at: https://www.fawcettsociety.org.uk/fawcett-staff (Accessed: 10/04/18).
