Emmeline Pankhurst famously said, “Men make the moral code and they expect women to accept it. They have decided it is entirely right and proper for men to fight for their liberties and rights, but that it is not right and proper for women to fight for theirs.”
Fig. 1- Picture from Suffragette movement, campaigning for women’s right to vote
It has been just over 100 years since women over the aged of 30 were granted the right to vote. When you think about it, 100 years is not actually that long, at least not when you compare it to the beginning of time. Then again, it is still a step forward in the right direction, so should still be celebrated. However, there was still a catch for women when it came to voting; they or their husbands had to be ‘an occupier of property’. This is nine years older than the age that men were allowed to vote at. This meant that 8.5 million women were eligible to vote, compared to 21 million men. It was not for another 10 years until the Equal Franchise Act of 1928, that all women were made eligible to vote. The amount of women eligible to vote after this act increased to 15 million.
After 100 years, the turnout of men and women when it comes to voting in elections is relatively equal (Green and Prosser 2017). However, myself and I’m sure other feminists would still argue that politics is still mainly dominated by men. Realistically, women do not have equal political power to men, for example ‘In the UK, in 2010, 1.9% women had participated in a legal public demonstration in the past 12 months, compared to 2.9% of men.’ (Roth and Saunders, 2018) Pankhurst (1914) argues that politics is still male dominated and that ‘men make the moral code and they expect women to accept it’. Although there has been a slow increase as years go by with women being elected in parliament, the number of female MPs is still unequal to the number of male MPs. Below is a graph showing the percentage of female MPs elected during the general elections over the last 30 years or so:
Fig. 2- Graph showing % of female MPs elected in each general election- Graph provide by parliament.uk
Although the ratio of male to female voters is very close as shown in the graph below, politics are still male dominated. Data from the United Nations shows that ‘UN data shows that only 22.8% of all national parliamentarians were women in 2016 (up from 11.3% in 1995). Only 11 women serve as head of state. And the UN itself, and many of its agencies, remain headed, predominantly, by men.’ (George, 2019) The fact that politics is so male dominated, the female voice is much less likely to be heard when it comes to issues such as the pay gap between men and women. According to the Office for National Statistics, men earned ’18.4% more than women in April 2017’. This shows that although men and women now have the equal right to vote, our society is still not equal. One reason that women may be less engaged with politics than men, may be due to the fact that the policies that the political parties have are not concerned with the issues that women have to face such as the gender pay gap.
Fig. 3- Graph showing male to female ratio in 2015 and 2017 general elections
Growing up, my parents ensured that I was politically aware so that when I reached voting age, I would be able to make an informed decision about who to vote for. I would often watch the news with them and they would explain to me about the different political parties and their policies. The first election that I was old enough to vote for was the EU referendum in 2016. Within my friendship group, all of my female friends voted as well. So why are politics still so male dominated?
Overall, the women of this generation should be grateful towards the women that stood up in order to have our voices heard. Do not take for granted the fact that you have the right to vote so make sure you use this right. Although, we have come far in terms of our rights, we still have a long way to go before equality is fully achieved between men and women. Perhaps the reason women are less engaged with politics than men is because is due to do with the fact that politicians mainly serve the interests of men and are not concerned with issues concerning gender inequality in our society.
Bibliography:
Browning, S. (2019). Women in Parliament and Government. [online] Researchbriefings.parliament.uk. Available at: https://researchbriefings.parliament.uk/ResearchBriefing/Summary/SN01250 [Accessed 14 Apr. 2019].
George, R. (2019). Gender norms and women’s political participation: Global trends and findings on norm change | Align Platform. [online] Align Platform. Available at: https://www.alignplatform.org/resources/2019/02/gender-norms-and-womens-political-participation-global-trends-and-findings-norm [Accessed 15 Apr. 2019].
Jones, L. (2018). What is the gender pay gap?. [online] BBC News. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-42918951 [Accessed 14 Apr. 2019].
Office for National Statistics (2017) Understanding the gender pay gap in the UK available at https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/articles/understandingthegenderpaygapintheuk/2018-01-17
Parliament.uk (2018) The Party System available at https://www.parliament.uk/about/mps-and-lords/members/partysystem/
Roth, S. and Saunders, C. (2018). Gender Differences in Political Participation: Comparing Street Demonstrators in Sweden and the United Kingdom. Sociology.