When you think of women in politics, what images pop into your head? Hillary Clinton rocking a power pantsuit combo? Maggie Thatcher in her prime? Or is it the Suffragettes causing chaos in the streets of London? For me, it’s all three examples and so many more that make up the powerful women in parliament. It has been over 100 years since women were given the right to vote and we as a nation have made leaps and bounds ever since. As a 22 year old woman, I have been given the opportunity to vote in at least one general election and even got to cast a vote in one of the most controversial political votes to have occurred in recent years; the EU referendum. However, this is all relative as there is still so much progress to be made, as the political sphere is still dominated by men.

Between 1918, when women were granted the right to vote, to 1997, there remained fewer than 1 in 10 female members of parliament. Although this has improved since then, women still remain massively outnumbered in representation within parliament. In 2014, 22.5% of representatives in UK parliament, 32% of local councillors and 33.3% of British MEP’s were women; an improvement? Yes. However, how does this statistic make sense when women make up over 50% of the population? Additionally, women make up around 52% of the electoral register and so hold the potential to make a massive difference to the outcome when it comes to voting, so why are we not seen as the force we are?

 

Fig 1. Clip from the show ‘Yes, Minister’ (1980) in which the permanent secretaries discuss women in high power positions in parliament.

Women’s issues also tend not to be taken seriously in politics, with the gender pay gap being the prime example. In 2017, there was still a shocking 9.1% pay gap between men and women (Office for National Statistics 2017). Despite this, the only thing the Conservative party did to address this was to declare that companies that employed over 250 people must declare their pay gap (Williams 2017), which is really a lazy attempt to combat such a pressing issue.

Additionally, there is evidence to say that young women face gender specific problems that impair their ability to be as politically engaged as their male counterparts (Briggs 2014); ‘now almost 40 years since the Sex Discrimination Act was passed, and over 80 since women got the right to vote equally with men, yet women, still, are all too often missing from politically powerful positions in the UK’. (Sex and Power, 2013). The fact that women don’t have as many female politicians to believe in, may mean they feel disenfranchised and therefore less likely to be decisive about political affiliations. This is all despite the fact that women turn out to vote in similar numbers to men and tend to be as politically informed (Green and Prosser 2017). There is a need for women to be politically involved, given the persistent nature of issues like sexual discrimination and harassment that are rarely addressed by men in parliament.

 

 

Fig 2. Graph showing voter turnout by gender in 2015 and 2017 general election. (Green and Prosser 2017, The British Election Study).

The young women of this country could benefit largely from positive measures to actively encourage them to participate from an early age. Youth participation initiatives and citizenship capacity amongst young people would mean that politicians could not ignore the voices and concerns of the young people, and especially young women, that they have sidelined for so long. The political game has been a ‘man’s world’ for as long as politics has existed, but women have the power and strength to challenge this. Just last year, women in the United States caused waves through their political involvement which may cause a substantial shift in the course of US politics. In fact, it was reported that this might be the first time in US history that women have clocked in more political involvement than men (Brookings, 2018).

As in the case of young people and the lower social classes, maybe women’s ability to be decisive and sure about politics is affected by the fact that there is not much there for us to be decisive about. When nobody stands for your interests, it’s difficult to make a choice that will truly impact you positively. We, as women, have every right to speak up for what we believe in and to be taken seriously when we are truly passionate about things. We have every right to be given a fair choice when it comes to representing us. Your voice is just as loud as anyone else’s.

References:

Cfwd.org.uk. (2013). Sex and Power. [online] Available at: http://www.cfwd.org.uk/uploads/Sex%20and%20Power%202013%20FINALv2%20%20pdf.pdf [Accessed 23 Apr. 2019].

Briggs, J. (2014). [online] Eprints.lse.ac.uk. Available at: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/57707/1/democraticaudit.com-Young_women_face_genderspecific_challenges_that_limit_their_political_participation.pdf [Accessed 23 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 [Accessed 23 Apr. 2019]

Williams (2017) What do the election manifestos mean for women? Available at https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/may/22/what-election-manifestos-mean-for-women [Accessed 23 Apr. 2019]

Galston, W. (2018). Data point to a new wave of female political activism that could shift the course of US politics. [online] Brookings. Available at: https://www.brookings.edu/blog/fixgov/2018/01/10/a-new-wave-of-female-political-activism/ [Accessed 23 Apr. 2019].

Green, J. and Prosser, C. (2017) British Election Study:Women, Men and the 2017 General Electionavailable at http://www.britishelectionstudy.com/bes-findings/women-men-and-the-2017-general-election-by-jane-green-and-chris-prosser/#.WsfNOS_MwdU [Accessed 23 Apr. 2019]

Yes, Minister. (1980). [TV Show] Directed by A. Jay and J. Lynn.