Studies show that women, generally, appear to be less knowledgeable and interested in politics than men. Why? Surely men and women aren’t that different. Nevertheless, explanations of structural differences in socialisation and resources have been put forward (Karp and Banducci, 2008). Through different types of socialisation, men are significantly more equipped to get the education, time, money and civic skills needed for political engagement (Paxton and Hughes, 2014).
In conventional politics, women in the UK seem to be just as politically engaged as men. However, the story of political representation is completely different. In the UK, 34 percent of parliament representatives are women. Only one-third! On a positive note, as figure 1 illustrates, there’s been a significant rise in female representatives (Watson et al., 2021). One explanation for this gendered divide is women’s amount of unpaid labour. Political engagement requires investments of both money and time, and women often decide to not be politically active as it would often go on the family’s expense. This means that women often enter politics when they are older, where consequently, their male counterparts have gained decades more of experience. These accelerating affects increases the political divide between men and women as traditional gender roles cause a gendered divide in political participation (Paxton and Hughes, 2014).
Cultural barriers are therefore reinforcing political gender inequality (Glatte and Vries, 2015). Socialisation, a result of societal ideas and attitudes towards women, can therefore constrain their ability to be politically engaged, as both education, family and unpaid labour all prevent them from gaining the necessary political skills. Girls and boys experience different forms of socialisation which reinforce existing gender role. This results in different forms of political socialisation due to different gendered societal expectations. This consequently generate different abilities to engage politically, like levels of political confidence (Frankel, 2016).
Research shows that in places with high numbers of elected female representatives, women are generally more politically engaged (Kittilson and Schwindt-Bayer, 2008). Increasing women’s abilities to get elected as political representatives has significant societal benefits, as their presence in the political public sphere encourage women’s political engagement by showing how it’s not just an ‘old man’s game’ (Karp and Banducci, 2008).
Therefore, increased focus on women’s societal structures, such as education, time and money is important for women’s abilities to have a political voice as both elected representatives and for encouraging others to be politically engaged (Roth and Saunders, 2018). Atkeson (2003) states the importance of female visibility for young women’s political socialisation. As politics is still a male-dominated arena, low levels of female representation are partly shaping young women’s political socialisation. This can reinforce an internal notion of how women are fit to be led, but not to lead.
Research from India shows how having more women as parliament representatives have contributed to a decline in maternal mortality. ‘How?!’, I hear you ask. By increasing female political representation, women’s ability to determine the political agenda strenghtened. This shows how in the past, a homogenous parliament made up by white, middle class, old men, were unable to adequately address problems concerning women. Furthermore, this exemplifies how the prioritisation of policies have contributed to women’s inability to politically engage (Bhalotra et al., 2018). Having more female representatives therefore benefit the community as it lowers costs for social services and creates a more equal society.
Making it easier for women to gain leadership positions are a part of the UN’s ‘Sustainable Goal’ which underpins how political representation is a global issue, as women are currently underrepresented in all levels of decision making (UNWomen, 2021). As Figure 2 shows, there are vast differences of women’s representation globally.
In addition to political representation, the Electoral Commissions’ (2004) research found significant differences in men and women’s ability to politically engage in unconventional politics. Their research found men to be more likely to campaign and volunteer than women. This exemplifies how gender roles makes it difficult for women to find the extra time to volunteer and attend political meetings. Additionally, women are more likely to be sexually assaulted and as political meetings often happen at night, fear can be a significant barrier for women’s ability to politically engage (Office for National Statistics, 2021).
It’s important to acknowledge that intersectionality plays a significant role in determining what type of barriers people face. Intersectionality describes how individual characteristics interplay to create different types of barriers. I, a white Scandinavian woman, will experience different barriers than women with other characteristics.
Introducing gender quotas and positive discrimination in all societal levels could help women’s political engagement. This ensures women’s place within the decision-making processes. Additionally, offering bias training in schools and organisations could help remove some political barriers. By focusing more on girls within the school system can help give them the necessary tools for succeeding politically. Ultimately, socialisation and gender roles have to be challenged in order to create an equal society. This is, however, easier said than done. Nevertheless, something has to happen as having a diverse representation is important for the legitimacy of our democracy and our political institutions.
What do you think?
Talk to you soon,
Johanne
References:
Atekson, L. R. (2003). Not All Cues are Created Equal: The Conditional Impact of Female Candidates in Political Engagement. Journal of Politics. 65(4) pp. 1040-1061
Bhalotra, S., Clarke, D., Gomes, J. and Venkataramani, A. (2018). Maternal mortality and women’s political participation. WIDER Working Paper 2018/58. Helsinki: UNU-WIDER.
The Electoral Commissions (2004). Gender and Political Participation: Explaining the Activism Gap. Research Report. Available at: https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/sites/default/files/electoral_commission_pdf_file/Final_report_270404_12488-9470__E__N__S__W__.pdf (Accessed at: 15.03.21).
(2016). The Politics of Gender Socialization. Dissertation, Duke University. Available at: https://hdl.handle.net/10161/12129 (Accessed at: 23.03.21)
Glatte, S., and Vries, C.D. (2015). Gender Norms and Gender Gaps in Political Participation in Unified Germany ( Provisional Working Title ) 1. Available at: http://catherinedevries.eu/Glatte_DeVries_Feb2015.pdf (Accessed at 20.03.21).
Karp, J. A. and Banducci, S. A. (2008) When politics is not just a man’s game: Women’s representation and political engagement. Electoral Studies. 27(1) pp. 105-115.
Kittilson, M.C., and Schwindt-Bayer, L.A. (2008). Gender and Political Engagement in Comparative Perspective: Modeling Cross-level Interactions with Multilevel Data. Available at: https://visionsinmethodology.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/kittilson_schwindt_gender_and_political_engagement_VIM2008.pdf (Accessed at 15.03.21).
Office for National Statistics (2021). Sexual offences in England and Wales overview: year ending March 2020. Available at: https://www.ons.gov.uk/releases/sexualoffencesinenglandandwalesoverviewyearendingmarch2020 (Accessed at: 22.03.21).
Paxton, P. and Hughes, M. M. (2014). Women, Politics and Power: A Global Perspective. (2nd ed.). California: SAGE Publication
Roth, S. and Sanders, C. (2018). Gender Differences in Political Participation: Comparing Street Demonstrators in Sweden and the United Kingdom. Sociology. 53(3) pp. 571-589.
Trowsdale, A. (2018). The power-sharing dream: Where women rule in the world. Available at: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-44454914 (Accessed at: 20.03.21).
UNWomen (2021). Facts and figures: Women’s leadership and political participation. Available at: https://www.unwomen.org/en/what-we-do/leadership-and-political-participation/facts-and-figures (Accessed at: 11.03.21).
Watson et al. (2021). Women in Politics and Public Life. Available at: https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn01250/ (Accessed at 16.03.21).
Johanne this blog was so interesting to read! I hadn’t thought about the idea that men are possibly more equipped to politically engage. I guess the barriers women face in being able to politically engage are often due to these family responsibilities. Have you thought about the way the media presents women leaders as mothers? Male leaders are not subject to as much media attention surrounding their family. For example, when Jacinda Arden (New Zealand’s prime minister) announced her pregnancy it was the focus of worldwide media outlets.
I wonder if you’ve seen this article: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jun/21/jacinda-ardern-babywatch-new-zealand-media
Gendered stereotypes are reproduced through the media representation of female leaders. This brings unwanted focus on their family lives and judges their ability to do their job as effectively. Saying this, do you think quotas actually challenge the underlying problem of sexism and gender discrimination or do you think the importance of getting women in political roles through quotas outweighs this? I look forward to hearing your thoughts! 🙂
Hi, Poppy! Thanks for leaving a comment 🙂
I think you raise a very interesting topic. The media is indeed reinforcing these gendered stereotypes which makes it increasingly more difficult for women to gain political positions. As for the article you linked – I can’t recall ever seeing headlines like this about male PM expecting a baby, like when Boris Johnson was due to become a father not too long ago.
I don’t think that a having a gender quota is a perfect system, but I still think it is one, of several, ways to go as it removes some of the barriers women face in their efforts to gain political positions. However, it is important to note that gender quotas are in no way fixing the underlying problems of discrimination and sexism – as you say. Therefore, I think of gender quotas are a bit like putting a band-aid on a serious wound. The band-aid, like the quota system, will not fix the problem but it might help to start with. However, although it’s not by any means a perfect system, I still think gender quota seems to be an effective way for getting women politically engaged. Having said that, deeper societal changes are desperately needed in order for our society to create equal possibilities for political participation no matter your gender.
Johanne, really like your blog was an interesting read. Do you think there is any one way that could make a big change in women getting involved within politics. Do you feel that it would be useful to set up a program within the education system to encourage girls to engage within politics and to show them future carers, like what has been done with the STEM subjects (Called the WISE campaign) in the past to encourage girls into different areas rather than home life. Here is a link to show what the wise campaign planned on doing when it started in the 1980s: https://www.wisecampaign.org.uk/history/. I personally feel that this would be a useful programme that the government could introduce in order to lessen the gender divide within society, let me know what you think.
Also when you talk about women not being interested in politics due to there being not enough role models for them within politics, I don’t know how true this is, as I feel that many women may have the same political views, as in the 2019 election the majority of Labour candidates were women, here is the 2019 figures: https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/house-of-commons-trends-how-many-women-candidates-become-mps/. I feel as though many women may share the beliefs of the labour party and that is why they are underrepresented in other parties, or the labour party does more work in being inclusive than other parties. I’d like to know what you think of this and what are the reasons for the big differences of Female candidates for different party’s at elections.
take a look at this article: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/apr/06/women-are-scared-to-enter-politics-because-of-their-past-i-was-one-of-them
Maybe women feel pressured out of politics, due to how they will be viewed by the public for certain things that have happened in their private life, which i don’t believe should stop them but I do feel that it is something women will look at more as they will be persecuted both by the public and the press more then men if something has happened.
I look forward to hearing back from you and having a discussion about the blog.
Hi, Jack! Thank you so much for commenting.
I think that in order to reach full gender equality, the socialisation processes that women and men undergo throughout life needs to be fundamentally changed. However, these processes are so integrated and internalised into our society that I, realistically, cannot see how this could be an immediate solution. Having said that, changing how we as a society view gender is vital. Therefore, making small changes as we progress is important, as small steps will make big differences in the long run. For example, gender quota and more emphasis on girls within the school. However, that means that it will take a long time to finally reach the overarching goal of gender equality. Therefore, in the meantime, I think that using gender quotas is a good substitution and a way to get women into the political world.
I really agree with your WISE suggestion, Jack! Targeting young girls in a sympathetic way is so important, as it will give them a better political understanding which will be vital throughout their lifetimes. They can then use their knowledge to encourage other girls and women to get politically active – thus having a positive reinforcing effect.
I do think that having role models is an important part of one’s ability to enter politics. As for your figures, Labour has long been seen as a ‘Family Party’, where family policies have been important. Although one cannot generalise women as a whole – the emphasis on family issues might be a reason why women are highly represented within the Labour party.
Thanks for the feedback!