BLOG 3 GENDER AND POLITICAL ENGAGEMENT

WHY ARE WOMEN SUFFERING IN CONTEMPORARY SOCIETY????

So far in our journey through blogs we have explored issues of political engagement in the UK, especially addressed topics that concerned young people and socio-economic inequality.

“How important it is for us to recognise and celebrate our heroes and she-roes!”- Maya Angelou

We must now turn our attention to the issue that affects most of our population and is representing a lingering ignorance of our progression towards an egalitarian society. Throughout our history, we have acknowledged that women have suffered from household to employment due to our system and society being slightly patriarchal.

Women are hugely underrepresented in UK politics which therefore is causing a subsequent lack of emphasis on the issues that are predominantly affecting women.

‘Gender equality can be simply understood as the acknowledgment that the needs and concerns of any gender are of equal importance. This, therefore, means that women’s rights, responsibilities, and opportunities should be available to every individual despite their gender being an influence on their future (Un.org,2019). We are quite fortunate as a society has come a long way in comparison to 1918 where women had to endure many struggles in their lives. Such as; having the right to vote, having a job, and breaking traditional norms and values in their daily lives (UK Parliament, 2019).  Sociologist Parsons (1937) argued that females carry out the ‘expressive role’ which associates them as being caring for their children and looking after the emotional needs of their husbands. Furthermore, women are also referred to as being a lot busier than men which created the sociological theory that women have taken on ‘triple shift’ in recent decades which is implying women are less likely to commit crime as their busier.  In addition, gender equality is now globally recognized as a major objective across the globe, and women are no longer tied to domestic matters. SO DOES THIS MEAN WE ARE ON THE SAME LEVEL AS MEN WITH REGARDS TO OUR ISSUES AND CONCERNS BEING ADDRESSED!!!

Women remain in a more complicated position than our male counterparts when it comes to contributing to politics. The representation of women in UK politics isn’t sufficient enough to represent the female population as a whole which therefore leads to inequality in the political system (Sawer, 2012). The biggest evidence to support this is how continually underrepresented in parliament we are (Browning, 2019). The 2011 census portrayed that 51% of the UK gender demographic are female; making us the dominant gender portion. However, the figure below demonstrates that until 1997, the number of seats in parliament held by women never managed to rise above 10%, and the current figure of 32% achieved in the 2017 general election was the highest its ever been (Browning, 2019). This figure is quite disappointing considering the 19% difference in the population of women in the UK in comparison to those MPs that have been representing us in parliament.

Figure 1. Percentage of Female MPs Elected in UK General Election 1918-2017 (Source: House of Commons Briefing Paper SN01250)

What does this imply?

Due to our level of descriptive representation in gender being at an adequate level. Therefore, it means that the level of substantive representation for that gender is improving significantly (Beckwith, 2007). Substantive representation allows MPs to have the ability to influence, intervene, and advocate for the interests and issues that individuals are faced with in day-to-day life (Sawer, 2012). This connotes that female MPs who are within parliament have their power significantly reduced because there aren’t enough females who can substantively represent issues women face (Pyeatt & Yanus, 2017). This, therefore, causes issues such as; The Gender Pay Gap, Abortion, The Infamous Tampon Tax.

…these newspaper articles will give you a piece of in-depth information on what issues women face

Women aren’t toys!!!

Women are suffering in politics through not having a substantial representative which causes issues such as; sexual harassment, domestic violence, rape, patriarchal society all these issues are causing our female population to either commit suicide or even be murdered by someone who we TRUST!! According to National Statistics, the suicide rate for females in the UK is now 5.4 deaths per 100,000 consistent with the rates over the past 10 years. In contrast, to this, an outburst has occurred in the UK due to the death of Sarah Everard a 33-year-old who was murdered by a Metropolitan Police Officer. Many women were deeply shocked by the nation and added an urge for women to debate about women’s safety and misogyny causing riots and protests around the country. In response to these protests, many females were threatened to be fined £10000 by the police and parliament due to breaking lockdown rules which therefore stirred an issue that politics try to avoid women issues and ignore the fact sexual harassment is a minor problem!!! However, to share emphasis with the public parliament and metropolitan police by improving women safety through plain-clothed police officers patrolling nightclubs, improve street lighting, and increasing the number of CCTV cameras in our streets.

OUR PARLIAMENT NEED TO SAVE OUR WOMEN ASAP OR ELSE CONSEQUENCES WILL OCCUR????????

 

Bibliography:
  • Beckwith, K. (2007). Numbers and Newness: The Descriptive and Substantive Representation of Women. Canadian Journal of Political Science/Revue canadienne de science politique, [online] 40(01). Available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/25166063
  • British Council (2019). Gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls in the UK. [online] Available at: https://www.britishcouncil.org/sites/default/files/gender_equality_and_empowerment_in_the_uk.pdf
  • Browning, S. (2019). Women in Parliament and Government. [online] Researchbriefings.parliament.uk. Available at: https://researchbriefings.parliament.uk/ResearchBriefing/Summary/SN01250
  • Un.org. (2019). OSAGI Gender Mainstreaming – Concepts and definitions. [online] Available at: https://www.un.org/womenwatch/osagi/conceptsandefinitions.htm
  • Pyeatt, N. and Yanus, A. (2017). Increasing Women’s Political Participation: The Role of Women-Friendly Districts. Representation, 53(3-4), pp.185-199.
  • Sawer, M. (2012). What makes the substantive representation of women possible in a Westminster parliament? The story of RU486 in Australia. International Political Science Review, 33(3), pp.320-335.
  • Suicides in the UK – Office for National Statistics. 2021. Suicides in the UK – Office for National Statistics. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/bulletins/suicidesintheunitedkingdom/2018registrations. [Accessed 24 March 2021].

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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2 thoughts on “BLOG 3 GENDER AND POLITICAL ENGAGEMENT”

  1. Hi Tanya ! This was a very interesting blog! I agree to a certain extent with your points. Yes, within our contemporary society women fall into the box of intersectionality and are being discriminated against. We are not being given the same equal opportunities as men! The representation of women in politics isn’t high enough for the government to be able to openly say that they represent the rights and voices of ALL women, especially since there is such a small percentage of women sitting in parliament. So, how exactly can women to feel more comfortable; not only in sharing their political views but also getting involved in politics in terms of going out there to vote, participating in protests, and even doing courses/classes that involve citizenship. Yes! Looking into legislations that protect women is so important ! and politics is not able to protect women from the harms they may face eg. sexual harassment and the aftermath.

    You mentioned the struggles that women face overall but, I believe that women fits into intersectional grouping but women of different backgrounds (BAME) receive different treatment so it shouldn’t be grouped into one. All women face different experiences so it is important for their experiences to also be heard and said in order for legislations to be put in place to meet all women’s needs. Laws have been put in place to allow women to vote but, at the start the suffragettes only fought for the rights of white women. Black women gained their rights to vote 10 years later. I still feel when changes are made for women, white women seem to come first, then BAME women follow after. For example you mentioned the terrible case that happened recently but take a look at this article I read recently https://www.refinery29.com/en-gb/2020/07/9883915/missing-white-woman-syndrome-madeleine-mccann. Which mentions the idea of the Missing White Woman Syndrome. Studies have shown that gender and race play a crucial role in the recovery chances of missing children. Black children are more likely to go missing for longer or remain missing than white children. which follows on to my questions: Do you think BAME women would get the same media attention? Do you think there is enough energy put into promoting the political engagement of BAME women?

  2. Hey Tanya! This was an amazing and informative blog! I never realised how far women have come in being elected in general elections from 0% females’ MPs in 1918 and just over 30% in 2017! You adding a graph to explain this, was very helpful! I agree that the representation of women in politics just isn’t enough, even though women have come a long way from not being able to vote to now being able to be a Prime minister, an example of this is Theresa May. Who served as prime minister of the United Kingdom. Adding to this, I agree that the representation of women in UK politics is not enough. Demographics highlighting that women are the dominating gender fit extremely well with your statistic of 32% of women being elected as MP. It shows, women being the dominating population, aren’t being represented enough! You mentioning the recent Sarah Everad case really brought to light that women in society do still face a lot of issues. The fact that a police man, someone who should be protecting citizens in society is extremely concerning. Furthermore, women gathered to protest in London about her case, which showed that women in this generation are participating politically! However, this doesn’t mean that women are participating consistently. This can change if women stop being stereotyped and instead, motivated within institutions like family or education. If women are socialised believing that they can also make a change, this could guide more women wanting to work in parliament which could also lead to fixing the problem of women’s views being underrepresented in government, which you mentioned in your blog.

    For more information about Factors influencing women political participation: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23311886.2019.1681048

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