“We need to reclaim the word ‘feminism’. We need the word ‘feminism’ back real bad. When statistics come in saying that only 29% of American women would describe themselves as feminist – and only 42% of British women – I used to think, What do you think feminism IS, ladies? What part of ‘liberation for women’ is not for you? Is it freedom to vote? The right not to be owned by the man you marry? The campaign for equal pay? ‘Vogue’ by Madonna? Jeans? Did all that good shit GET ON YOUR NERVES? Or were you just DRUNK AT THE TIME OF THE SURVEY?”
Caitlin Moran
This year celebrates the 100th anniversary of the women’s suffrage movement in the UK, a pivotal historical marker on the timeline in the ongoing struggle for female equality. Suffrage, or franchise, refers to an individuals right to vote. In a world where sex-selective abortions, honour killings, and female genital mutilation (FGM) to name but a few continue to be culturally accepted daily realities for women, the importance of political activism for women from all corners of the globe is something that should never be underemphasised. As a white Western woman, my plight is one that pales in comparison to the injustices suffered by Women of Colour, religious minorities, and members of the LGBTQ+ community. However, engaging politically is a privilege that I have been afforded, that enables me to petition for change on behalf of all the women whose voices have long been silenced.
That being said, let us not pretend that the UK has a track record of gender equality to be proud of. Women account for only 32% of elected MP’s in Westminster, a pitifully low percentage when compared to countries such as Rwanda, who boast a 64% female dominated Parliament (Salami, 2017). The situation in Europe is also an embarrassing one for Britain, as Nordic countries such as Iceland (47.6%), Sweden (43.6%), Finland (42%), and Norway (39.6%) all score considerably higher in their representation of women in single-house Parliamentary positions (UN Women, 2017). Why is it that we lag so far behind these countries in our inclusion of females in politics? Are we dragging our feet in fear of progress, or simply not encouraging young women to become more politically active?
Figure 1.0 shows each country’s level of female representation, and is banded into percentiles that are colour coded accordingly. Those with the most female MP’s are dark blue, and those with the lowest number are green (Source: UN Women)
Women make up 49.5% of the world’s population (World Bank, 2016), so why on Earth do they only account for 23.4% of the world’s MP’s? (Inter-Parliamentary Union, 2018) Maybe they’re put off by the ever-present gender pay gap that still exists even in Governmental positions, with male MP’s in the UK earning on average 10.4% more than their female counterparts (Urwin and Wills, 2018). The issue of equal pay is one that runs deep, and cuts even deeper, why should I earn 9% less (ONS, 2017) than a man of equal qualification and job description simply for having a uterus? Women have long been penalised for the powers of their bodies, with our government perpetuating this prejudice through various policies like the travesty that is the ‘Tampon Tax’, which adds a staggering 5% of VAT onto feminine hygiene products that aren’t deemed as ‘essential’ (BBC News, 2017).
So far in my short lifetime, I’ve spent £20 in VAT for the pleasure of owning a box of Tampax Compak – try the Tampon Tax calculator for yourselves if you need something else to be annoyed about! http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-42013239.
Mothers are also disproportionately affected by workplace legislation, with the gender pay gap increasing after the birth of their first child (BBC News, 2018). The reality for women in the UK is that through insidious policy making, and lacklustre implementation of equality legislation in the workplace, they are often at a significant disadvantage to their male counterparts.
Figure 2.0 shows women protesting at the 2018 ‘Time’s Up’ march in January. Their sign highlights how much women have been empowered, but also how much further there is left to go (Source: Stylist)
Despite all of this, we are immensely lucky in the UK to have the ability to exercise our franchise in the political arena without fear of repercussion. Saudi Arabia only just legalised female voting in 2015, and various cultural rules in places like Afghanistan and Pakistan make turning out to the ballot box an often gruelling or impossible task for women (Aspinall, 2018). Studies show that the involvement of young women in politics can encourage those who have felt marginalised to become more engaged, especially in countries such as these where women are often underappreciated and ostracised (Nadeem and Shahed, 2017). So, what could we be doing in the UK to improve our own positions, as well as those who face vast opposition for the horrific crime of not being a man? (Insert gasp here). We’ve already matched male voters, as the percentage turnout for both males and females at the 2017 General Election stood at around 63% (Green and Prosser, 2018), and despite the overall low level of representation in Parliament, the last election saw a record number of women take up their seats in the House of Commons (Khomami, 2017).
But there’s obviously still a long way to go. The overwhelmingly male dominated political system is supported by institutions like the media, which uses its influence to degrade and trivialise female politicians, much like the way it shames any other public female figure. Constant coverage of the physical appearance of female politicians in trashy tabloid newspapers like The Daily Mail is enough to make me question the intelligence of journalists everywhere, but more crucially has been seen to have a negative effect on the confidence of young girls who are exposed to it (Bulman, 2017). It’s no wonder then, that women are less inclined to run for positions in government if they’ve feared the public’s reaction to how well they draw their eyebrows on (rather than the merit of their policies) since age 9. Seemingly reformative steps, such as enforcing gendered quotas into political parties, have also been found to lack the capacity to make real difference in the political sphere (Verge and de la Fuente, 2014), as they fail to tackle the underlying factors that maintain male dominance.
So girls, remember that any opinion you’ve ever had means that you feel passionate enough about something to speak up about it. Politics shouldn’t be any different. Distance yourself from the technicalities and game-playing in Westminster, and instead think about the inequalities you face every day. When was the last time someone touched you without your consent, or shouted at you from their car? All the issues that affect us can be changed, so let’s start at the top.
It’s always your right to fight for what you believe in, and your voice is just as important as anyone else’s.
Bibliography:
Aspinall, G. (6th February, 2018) Here are the countries where it’s still really difficult for women to vote. The Debrief. Available from: https://thedebrief.co.uk/news/politics/countries-where-women-can-t-vote/. (Accessed: 18/03/18).
BBC News. (20th November, 2017) Tampon tax: How much have you spent? Available from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-42013239. (Accessed: 18/03/18).
BBC News. (5th February, 2018) Mother’s suffering ‘pay penalty’ at work, report suggests. Available from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-42939584. (Accessed: 18/03/18).
Bulman, M. (4th May, 2017) Media’s obsession with appearance putting young women off going into politics, study finds. The Independent. Available from: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/the-medias-obsession-with-appearance-is-putting-women-off-politics-a7717141.html. (Accessed: 18/03/18).
Great Britain. 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. (Accessed: 18/03/18).
Green, J., and Prosser, C. (2018) Women, Men, and the 2017 General Election. British Election Study. Available from: http://www.britishelectionstudy.com/bes-findings/women-men-and-the-2017-general-election-by-jane-green-and-chris-prosser/#.Wq6S3-jFLIU. (Accessed: 18/03/18).
Inter-Parliamentary Union (2018) Women in National Parliaments. Available at: http://archive.ipu.org/wmn-e/world.htm. (Accessed: 18/03/18).
Khomami, N. (9th June, 2017) Record number of female MP’s win seats in 2017 General Election. The Guardian. Available from: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/jun/09/record-number-of-female-mps-elected-in-2017-general-election. (Accessed: 18/03/18).
Nadeem, M, & Shahed, S. (2017) Factors Influencing the Attitude of Urban Educated Women towards Politics. Journal of Arts and Social Sciences. 4(1), pp. 79-95. Available from:https://content.ebscohost.com/ContentServer.asp?EbscoContent=dGJyMNLr40SeqLU4y9fwOLCmr1CeprdSsKu4TbKWxWXS&ContentCustomer=dGJyMPGus0i1rK9JuePfgeyx43zx1d%2BI5wAA&T=P&P=AN&S=R&D=aph&K=124206852. (Accessed:27/03/18).
Salami, M. (12th January, 2017) On parliamentary equality the UK is 48th. It could learn from No.1 Rwanda. The Guardian. Available from: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jan/12/female-mps-britain-rwanda-senegal-parliamentary-gender-equality. (Accessed: 18/03/18).
The World Bank Group (2016) Population female, % of total. Available at: https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.POP.TOTL.FE.ZS. (Accessed: 18/03/18).
UN Women (2017) Women in politics map 2017. Available at: http://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2017/4/women-in-politics-2017-map#view. (Accessed: 18/03/18).
Verge, T. and de la Fuente, M. (2014) Playing with different cards: Party politics, gender quotas and women’s empowerment. International Political Science Review. 35(1) pp.67-79.