The suffragette movement, is a reminder that the battle  for womens equality hasn’t been easy. This female dominated movement is largely to thank for having secured womens right to vote in 1918(Sky News 2018).Despite this,there remains large inequalities for women in politics today.Only 32% of elected representatives in the House of commons are women( The guardian 2018).

As a women myself, I understand more than anything the importance of  having female representatives in power. Even if progress has been slow, the opportunities we as women have today to be more involved in politics are greater than in the past.

Today young women like myself, still have few female figures in power to look up to. Given that attempts within government to  improve the imbalance between male and female representation within parliament have been repetitively rejected, it comes as no surprise that men constitute 70% of MP’s in parliament(Elgot 2017).

Although, men still make up a large proportion of parliament, which in itself highlights that there are inequalities for women in parliament. There is no denying that over the years womens involvement in politics has seen a rise. Figure 1, demonstrates this; it reveals that since, 1979 there has been a progressive increase in the number of female MP’s elected at general elections. The data shows that  in the late 1900s, the number of female MP’s, were considerably lower. Since 1997, numbers have almost doubled and now following the 2017 general election, 32% of MP’s are women(Browning 2019).

Figure 1: Graph showing percentage of female MPs elected at the general election  https://researchbriefings.parliament.uk/ResearchBriefing/Summary/SN01250 

But this isn’t enough.

Why do women still make up a smaller proportion of parliament as oppose to men?

Could it be that women are subject to sexism? Sexism refers to being treated a certain way based on your gender. There remains this underlying idea that women are less capable. Even globally there is this presumption that they should focus more on their role in the family and looking after their children(Garcia 2018). Jacinda Ardern, faced scrutiny for giving birth whilst being prime minister of New Zealand(Garcia 2018).

As a women, you  may feel discouraged to have a poltical role , especially since 52 % of women have been harassed or bullied at work(Minter 2014).Noticeably, the work place doesn’t necessarily favour women, considering that the gender pay gap between men and women is still a thing. Only 11% of women work at a company that pays them equally or better,as oppose to 93% of men where this applies(Wisniewska, Ehrenberg-Shannon & Gordon 2018).That being said, its not hard to see why the number of women in parliament are so low.

As shown in Figure 2,women are more likely to be in part- time employment than men.41% of women work part time compared to 12% of men(Parliament UK 2016). As a result of societal expectations for women, they get the short end of the stick. We are devalued and are expected to be the ones to stay at home and assume more responsibility as the carer for the children(Parliament UK 2016). Childcare should be more equal. Just as it clear that men have more scope to devote themselves to their job, so should women.

Figure 2:Graph showing number of male and female part-time workers https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201516/cmselect/cmwomeq/584/58405.htm 

The medias portrayal of female politicians doesn’t really help close the gap between men and women in parliament.They aren’t portrayed as nicely as male politicians, and more focus is placed on their appearance . The UK prime minister,Theresa May happens to be just one of the victims of the medias negativity, having her fashion choices discussed on a regular basis(Galbraith 2019).We live in a world where unfortunately, society favours men. But what can be done to change this dynamic?

One way in which we can get more women in politics, is through putting together grass roots community programmes, so women can come together to discuss political matters(Wesley & Dublon 2015). Also, quotas which have proven to be quite useful, would guarantee womens involvement in politics (Sloan 2014). Since, it allows a certain amount of women to be elected as candidates(Sloan 2014).

We need more women in politics,as they are more suited to represent womens rights. This is emphasised in the video below.

 

Perhaps what we need are political groups that take a gender-mainstreaming approach of action. That way male and female concerns can be approached more equally.

I leave you to ponder, are womens rights important to you?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

The Guardian.,2018.100 years on, female MP’s are still too few.[online] Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/nov/20/100-years-on-female-mps-are-still-too-few (Accessed on:16/04/2019)

Sky News.,2018.The suffragettes: the women who risked it all to get the vote.[online] Available at:https://news.sky.com/story/the-suffragettes-the-women-who-risked-all-in-their-battle-to-vote-11233478(Accessed at :16/04/2019)

Elgot,J.2017.Proposal to increase number of female MPs in Commons is rejected. [online]Available at:https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/sep/07/uk-rejects-proposals-to-make-parliament-more-representative-of-women (Accessed on: 15/04/2019)

Browning,S.2019.Women in parliament and Government.[online] Available at :https://researchbriefings.parliament.uk/ResearchBriefing/Summary/SN01250(Accessed on:13/04/2019)

Garcia, R,T,. 2018.Women are globally underrepresented in politics. Why?[online]Available at:http://www.womensmediacenter.com/women-under-siege/women-are-globally-underrepresented-in-politics-why(Accessed on:15/04/2019)

Minter,H.,2014.52% of women have been bullied or harassed at work in the past  three years.[online] Available at:https://www.theguardian.com/women-in-leadership/2014/apr/02/52-percent-women-experience-bullying(Accessed on:13/04/2019)

Wisniewska, A., Ehrenberg-Shannon,B.,& Gordon,S.,2019.Gender pay gap: how women are short- changed in the UK. [online] Available at:https://ig.ft.com/gender-pay-gap-UK/(Accessed on:15/04/2019)

Galbraith,J.,K.,2019.Bad News for Women.[online]Available at :https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/media-negative-coverage-of-women-by-hannah-storm-2019-03(Accessed on:16/04/2019)

Parliament UK.2016.Understanding the gender pay gap.[online]Available at:https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201516/cmselect/cmwomeq/584/58405.htm(Accessed on:16/04/2019)

Wesley, M., & Dublon,D.2015. Empowering women at Grassroots.[online] Available at :https://ssir.org/articles/entry/empowering_women_at_the_grassroots(Accessed on:20/04/2019)

Sloane, N., 2014.We need more women in politics-here’s how to do it.[online] Available at:https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/aug/29/five-ways-more-women-uk-politics(Accessed on:20/04/2019)