Discussing the lack of female politicians 

Our journey in the exploration of political engagement disparities has met extremely important constructs: age and socio-socio-economic status, which influence the ways in which we politically engage. However, this blog will not do itself justice if we did not take a look at patterns of gender.

It is a widely understood concept that women are inferior within the structures of western contemporary society, however in the age of equality, why is this still the case? The relationship between gender and political raises a plethora of questions and debates as to why the female voice within politics is minuscule and under appreciated.

I write this final blog post with passion and determination, exploring the current inequalities women face within politics; patterns in female political engagement; and subsequently exploring ways to combat these issues at hand.

HISTORY OF SUFFRAGE

There was a time where voting was a privilege, in which only certain men had the right to vote.

Due to this the suffragette movement was created consisting of empowered young women, marching and fighting for their right to vote and have their voice heard and views represented.

The Women’s Social and Political Union, lead by Emmeline Pankhurst and her daughters Christabel, Sylvia, and Adela. After decades of peaceful protesting, the WSPU fought for the goal of political equality, coining the phrase deeds not goals.

After years of violence and injury, the voices of women were finally heard as the 1928 Representation of the People Act granted property owning women over 30 the right to vote (The British Library, 2019).

Although this act did not include any obvious forms of racial discrimination, discrimination of class was visible as this was no victory for the British women of colour and the lower class, as the status of a property owning woman of colour was a rarity during the 1920’s.(Leal and Westwood, 2018).

The 1928 Representation of the People Act only began to serve the interests of minority groups ten years later (Leal and Westwood, 2018).

LACK OF WOMEN IN POLITICS

Fast forward 101 years later, gender inequalities still plague British society. The under-representation of women in parliaments, national and regional spaces has sparked a very crucial dialogue regarding these inequalities as political feminists seek to look at why women are excluded from these roles (Mackay, 2004).

Although women make up 52% of the British population (O’Neill et al., 2015), there are 209 female Members of Parliament, taking up a mere 32% of the total number of MPs which is all time high. Academics and politicians may praise this figure as until 1997, women failed to meet over 10% of all MPs in Britain (O’Neill et al., 2015)

Fig 1: Elected female MP’s at General Elections (Dempsey and Johnston 2018)

Personally, I see these figures as completely unacceptable reports by O’Neill and others state that in 2015 the UK ranked 65th out of the 70 top ranking countries for the percentage of women in parliament. Yes, statistics show women are better represented within British politics however progress has been remarkably slow.

To make things worse, current women in politics are continuously scrutinised by the media compared to their male counterparts.

WOMAN AND POLITICAL ENGAGEMENT

The discussion around political behaviour also plays a role in this discussion as to why there is a gender gap in political engagement.

In the UK, it was reported that in 2010, only 1.9% of women had participated in a legal demonstration compared to 2.9% of men (Roth and Saunders, 2018). Statistics also show that women are less likely to know about politics compared to men.

Fig 2: Political attitudes by gender (Dempsey and Johnston 2018)

On the other hand, women and men were found to have equal voting patterns of 68-69% in the 2017 General Election (Dempsey and Johnston 2018). To further emphasise this, statistics also show that there has been no major difference in the turnout between men and women at General elections since 2001.

Although statistics show similar voting patterns between men and women, this should not take away from the political apathy that face women: the lack of female bodies within the political realm compared to men.

As a young black woman, I can understand the current political apathy that is: women not running for political roles, due to the unfair treatment that we face in the workplace and the constant discrimination we face within society however we need women in politics. A healthy democratic system is representative of society. A society that has more male politicians than female is not democratic. 

Current dialogue on ways to improve female representation in politics have relied on the notion that increasing quotas within politics will lead to a fairer representation but are young women running for political roles in the first place? 

We should be looking at encouraging young women to aspire to be in these powerful positions to not only be the voice of tomorrow, but change the voice of today.

This can be possibly done though teaching young females in education about the power of politics. When looking back at pioneers such as Emmeline Pankhurst that paved the way for political equality, I believe that it is possible to combat political apathy and improve the gender gap in politics.

Bibliography

The British Library. (2019). Suffragettes, violence and militancy. Available at: https://www.bl.uk/votes-for-women/articles/suffragettes-violence-and-militancy [Accessed 10 Apr. 2019].

Dempsey, N. and Johnston, N. (2018). Political disengagement in the UK: who is disengaged?. House of Commons. [online] Available at: https://researchbriefings.parliament.uk/ResearchBriefing/Summary/CBP-7501 (Accessed 10 Apr. 2019).

Leal, N. and Westwood, K. (2018). Women’s Suffrage: Women Of Colour | Voting Counts. Voting Counts. Available at: https://votingcounts.org.uk/suffrage-women-of-colour [Accessed 10 Apr. 2019].

Mackay, F. (2004). Gender and Political Representation in the UK: The State of the ‘Discipline’. The British Journal of Politics and International Relations, 6(1), pp.99-120.

O’Neill, D., Savigny, H. and Cann, V. (2015). Women politicians in the UK press: not seen and not heard?. Feminist Media Studies, 16(2), pp.293-307.

OpenDemocracy. (2019). Excluded, stereotyped and abused: where do women stand in UK politics today?. [online] Available at: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/5050/excluded-stereotyped-abused-women-uk-politics-today/ [Accessed 10 Apr. 2019].

Roth, S. and Saunders, C. (2018). Gender Differences in Political Participation: Comparing Street Demonstrators in Sweden and the United Kingdom. Sociology, p.003803851880300.