Gender and Politics? Truly a dicey topic when regarding equality. Although politically engaging is not as restrictive as it once was and the continuous progress we see today, there is still a visible divide which underrepresents women in the world of politics that needs to be discussed. In this blog, I will be highlighting current issues in regards to gender seen within British politics and how the political sphere is evolving out of the traditional spectrum.
Thanks to Women Suffragettes movements in the early 20th century, the traditional divide between man and woman began to reshape in the name of equality and unity. Believe it or not, the ballot box was once a privilege to have taken part in. If you did not own property, came from a working class background, and whether you were a woman, you would of not had the right to cast your vote; the scary part? This was just over a 100 years ago, with the first country to have legalized the rights for all to be able to vote being New Zealand in 1893, and the United Kingdom following in 1918.
For a country like the United Kingdom, you would expect an organized and progressive democratic system which in turn, promotes equality and the best for its citizens. To your surprise, and to mine, the United Kingdom is ranked 39th in regards to male to female ratio in parliament; but this is the extraordinary part, we are behind countries such as Rwanda and Seychelles, countries that are years behind the United Kingdom in terms of economic development. Quite clearly, there is a different perception towards gender amongst these nations, so what does this say about us? That we are struggling to break through the traditional panorama of parliament being a male dominated arena.
39th place is quite an unacceptable ranking to say the least, so, we ask, what are some of the issues that contribute to this statistic? One example that we can take from this is the existing gender pay gap. Figure. 1 displays a graph showing the gross earnings of men and female full-time employees. From this graph, we see that the gross earnings of men has risen from £13.12 to £14.48, rising at approximately 10.3% per hour, whilst women’s pay has gone from £11.75 to £13.16 per hour at a rate of 12%, resulting into a pay gap percentage of 9.1% (Office for National Statistics 2017). Although the pay gap had fallen from 10.5% in 2011 to 9.1% in 2017, it still remains positive in value – meaning that on average men are paid more than women (Office for National Statistics 2017).
Figure. 1. Average pay between male and female full-time employees. Office for National Statistics 2017.
Another factor why women are more set back from the political arena than men is due to the terrorizing and frightening sexual assault allegations that rocked the United Kingdom in 2017. One MP claimed to have been sexually assaulted four times and was ignored each time by Parliament authorities, another was sexually assaulted in front of the attackers wife, either way, these actions would definitely create a pretense that women are not viewed or perceived as an equal all due to power play and prejudice (The Independent 2017) (The Herald Scotland 2017).This was the harsh reality of what it’s like for a female in a male-orientated arena, where your gender could determine whether you are looked down upon and not taken seriously.
Despite the misogyny and seemingly unequal gender divide, the women of Britain refuse to stay quite. According to the House of Commons library, there is continuous progress in the political hippodrome. Figure. 2 shows the ceaseless growth of female members in parliament since the 1983 general election. Although the House of Commons is indeed a male dominated territory, as of March 2019, the amount of female members reached an all time high of 32% (House of Commons 2019). With exception to 2001’s general election, these statistics are still growing, meaning we could potentially be seeing more female MP’s in the years to come.
Figure 2. Female MP’s elected at General Elections. House of Commons Library (2019)
Another factor that proves the gender divide is narrowing is in voter turnouts in the general election. Men and women actually fair the same with similar figures, Figure. 3 clearly shows that men and women are engaging at a similar pace (Ipsos Mori 2017). In fact, if we were to compare the turnout between men and women in the 2015 and 2017 general election shown in Figure. 4, it shows women actually politically engaged slightly more than men (Ipsos Mori 2017). What does this tell us? That women are getting more politically engaged. With the increase of female MP’s and in voter turnout, we are on the way to seeing a more united and equal community.
Figure. 3. How Britain Voted by Gender. Ipsos Mori (2017)
Figure. 4. Turnout in 2015 and 2017 by gender. Ipsos Mori (2017)
Although women are faced with distressing obstacles of mistreatment in the political sphere, they are repenting. How are they repenting? By getting more engaged at the ballot box, by physically standing up as MP’s in the House of Commons, and more importantly, by their voice. If you do not like something, speak up, as to speak up and take action, is the best offense.
On that note, I do say I believe the future is changing for the better as society evolves.
What do you say?
House of Commons (2019). Women in Parliament and Government. Available at: https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN01250/SN01250.pdf. (Accessed: 01/04/2019)
Ipsos Mori (2017). How the voters voted in the 2017 election. Available at: https://www.ipsos.com/sites/default/files/2017-06/how-britain-voted-in-the-2017-election_2.pdf. (Accessed: 02/04/2019)
Office for National Statistics (2017). Understanding the Gender pay gap. Available at: https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/articles/understandingthegenderpaygapintheuk/2018-01-17. (Accessed: 02/04/2019)
The Independent (2017). Woman who worked for MP reported sexual assault four times but was ‘ignored by Parliament authorities’. Available at: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/mps-sexual-assault-parliament-ignore-womans-claim-westminster-mark-garnier-a8028441.html. (Accessed: 01/04/2019)