Here we are in 2020 and yet gender remains a powerful and destructive force. I use such adjectives because these socially constructed power relations shut women out of UK politics and make breaking the glass ceiling seem as likely as pigs flying (Bradley, 2013). Of course, non-binary people exist, but the gender hierarchy persists. I am privileged as a white cisgender heterosexual male. Most politicians possess similar characteristics, so I could easily get into politics. Women impacted by race, gender, class and sexuality intersections aren’t as lucky though, no identity operates in isolation let’s face it (Hill Collins and Bilge, 2016). But, what about gender alone? Consider UK suffragettes. Yes, gender parity in UK voting now exists. But… women remain massively underrepresented in government. Why? I cite patriarchy as crushing women’s confidence and argue patriarchy fuels abuse against female politicians. I think these factors deter women from politically engaging.
The suffragettes worked their socks off for the vote. Riots, arson, you name it, were orchestrated by The Women’s Social and Political Union (Purvis and Holton, 2000). Emily Davidson even threw herself under a horse! This sparked The 1918 Representation Act giving women over 30 living in owned property voting rights (Holton and Purvis, 2000). Get my point now that class affects women’s experiences? Nevertheless, all women could vote with The 1928 Equal Franchise Act (Holton and Purvis, 2000). The 1918 Parliament Act was also another milestone as women could become representatives.
Was this activism successful?
Figure 1: UK gender voting turnout (Shorrocks, 2017, from BES, 2015).
Well, from 1964-2015, voting turnout by gender has been equal. Even in 2019 only a 4% difference occurred (Ipsos MORI, 2019). So, UK women are active citizens regarding voting.
Now… Descriptive representation encapsulates how far politicians resemble their electorate (Strolovitch, 2007). Internationally women’s descriptive representation is poor. Women only represent 24% of politicians (Bigio and Vogelstein, 2020). Shameful! What about the UK?
Figure 2: UK Female Representation (House of Commons Library, 2020)
Until 1992, we had less than 50 women MP’s (again, shameful). This compares to 220 female MP’s today. However, this represents 33.8% of MP’s so there’s nothing to be excited about (House of Commons Library, 2020).
What causes this underrepresentation?
Image: Cooper (2011).
Patriarchy means male dominance (Millett 1971). It permeates our androcentric society’s institutions and informs the hegemonic public and private binary with male breadwinners and female housewives (Millett, 1971; Phillips, 1998). This purportedly keeps women politically marginal (Phillips, 1998). This stuff is dated though right? Well, Higgins (2018) found patriarchy still permeates society as an invisible mechanism preserving male supremacy. Women are judged based on a feminine gender role encompassing behaviour/beauty standards and gender inequality seems ‘natural’ (Higgins, 2018). The latter resonates as in mine and some of my friend’s families, men are accepted as heads of the family! Such male dominance and gender roles may crush women’s confidence, hence figure 2’s data.
Some break the glass ceiling– the barrier keeping women out of political leadership (Folke and Rickne, 2016). But, such patriarchy drives abuse against female politicians. Perhaps deterring women from politics soothes some men’s small ego’s (boo hoo). Patriarchy and toxic masculinity may combine then considering toxic masculinity privileges maintaining male power (Daddow and Hertner, 2019).
How bad is this abuse? Well, receiving abuse in public, aggressive emails with death and rape threats, and nasty phone calls from men, is common (Scott, 2019). As is being labelled based on one’s genitalia and appearance! (Bigio and Vogelstein, 2020). Men MP’s don’t have such issues (Watson, 2019). The gender stereotypes embedded in patriarchy also mean women MP’s experience abuse on social media including sexual advances, comments about their bodies, and criticisms of their viewpoints (Dhrodia, 2018). Such comments can come from women too. The body comments, especially, suggest women perpetuate stereotypes patriarchy creates by measuring women MP’s against feminine ideals. Look at this abuse’s scale:
Figure 3: Abusive tweets female MP’s received (Dhrodia, 2018).
Yes, race is important, BAME MP Diane Abbot definitely suffers. These women receiving 1000+ abusive tweets though is unacceptable. So, is it surprising female politicians are doing a runner?
Video: The Telegraph (2019)
Such patriarchy and abuse contextualises female’s underrepresentation data. Action is therefore imperative as descriptive underrepresentation decreases substantive representation where women speak for women (Strolovitch, 2007). This may make more women reject politics as they think politics does not represent women. So… without change, UK politics will remain a man’s world.
Solutions?
Ideally everyone could embrace gender equality. Most men will not though as patriarchy benefits them. So, social media sites must remove offensive content and abuse must be condemned to inspire women to politically engage. Moreover, quotas! This involves reserving parliamentary seats for women (Krook, 2006). Quotas, however, give women special treatment which makes states resistant to implement them and anyway female candidates won’t come forward unless patriarchy and abuse are tackled (Krook. 2006). So, ladies, you must start challenging patriarchy. No social structure is static. Think of Beyoncé, who runs the world? Stand up and be politically engaged active citizens. Raise your daughters to be future leaders too! Then maybe, female power will become normalized and UK politics will cease being a man’s world.
Are you ready for change?
820 words.
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