The underrepresentation of female’s interests and values is a global phenomenon as there is no country where women are equally represented on all levels of government. Since most women in the Western World gained the right to vote, there is no area of human life or development sector which is immune from the impact of inequitable gender relations. The central thesis of this paper is that women’s underrepresentation in elected office creates serious problems. This paper begins by analysing the key barriers of women to get into politics, especially into leading positions. It will then go on to the argument that women have special interests and needs, and that male politicians cannot represent those concerns adequately. Additionally, this paper describes further problems in today’s political world, such as women’s identification with …show more content…
While women were traditionally largely responsible for child care and managing the household, men were more concerned with earning the money in order to support their families. Moreover, it is has been a widely held view, especially by male politicians, that women were not capable of evaluating political matters because they were too emotional and thus, don’t have the required powerfulness (Monique Leijenaar, 1997). Nevertheless, women’s status and integration in the political decision making process has improved continuously since most western-countries introduced women’s right to vote. Consequently, in some of these states women’s underrepresentation is not a numerical problem anymore; instead it is only a problem of the representation of their interests and values on the political agenda. This can be illustrated by the example of Denmark where women have a majority in six councils. However, women should be given more power in order to create a world in which power is exercised equitably for the benefit of
...cs should gain its value, and lastly people should vote because it is their responsibility. Moredish Conroy points out, “The traditional ruler view of women rejects the idea that femaleness and political power can coexist.” The traditional idea of what constitute leadership should be rejected. Bashevkin speaks that people must face their own internalized, often unrecognized feelings of discomfort with putting women in positions of power. This should change. Rationally, we all need to engage ourselves in politics because it contributes to our day to day activity. This book is a precondition to change because it promotes awareness by bringing change through monitoring the media, social movements, public opinions, electoral reforms, consensus building, collaboration, stronger motivation, and changing the rule of the game. This assures every citizen, every voice counts.
As I grew older, I began to realize that I very rarely heard female names on the nightly news when the issue at hand involved politics. Seldom did I read women politicians quoted in the newspapers. Hardly ever did I see female faces on the covers of magazines when freshman senators were running for office. This phenomenon was not caused by the media’s lack of coverage on female authoritarians; it was caused by the fact that very few of such women exist. I began to wonder: why is there such a lack of female representation in the United States national government? Furthermore, what are the implications of this lack of representation for women like myself and for the citizens of this democratic country at large?
Living in a society where gender matters and is one of the main attention seeking in every aspect whether it is involved with politics, governments, and as well as individuals within a community. Men and women were created equal at birth; yet, we are brought up and nurtured by the society that we let it control our thoughts and minds, and believing that women are not equally as men. Gender was separated at birth, in order for society to tell the difference between a boy and a girl, therefore, boys often wear things that associated with the color blue and girls with pink. In a political world, gender tends to suffer a gap between male and female when it comes to voting for presidential candidates or elections. While most electable candidates want to gather as many votes as possible from both genders, women’s voting tends to deliver a bigger impact on who will win, due to the fact that the majority of women are likely to vote for female candidates, especially on political issues relating to women’s rights and movements than male candidates. Therefore, women candidates should target mostly at female voters, because they are likely to vote for their own gender and will support women candidates on political issues involving discrimination and domestic violence towards women.
Women are numerically underrepresented in United States politics. Though people may see famous faces of women in politics around them, a mere 17 percent of leaders of the Federal government in the United States are women. Not only, at the Federal level are women underrepresented, but also at the state and local levels. Only in six states are there female governors, and members of city hall are predominately male in 92 out of the 100 largest cities in the continental U.S. Since the 1970’s the percentage of women in high political offices had been increasing, but in the last several election cycles there has been no net increase. The United States House of Representatives has plateaued in its percentage of female representatives and Senate suffered the first net decrease in the percentage of women serving since 1979. In terms of progress of women’s representation in politics, the United States is falling behind many nations. As of 2011, 90 nations have a higher percentage of women in office. (Lawless and Fox) Women in the United States have not achieved political parity, and are falling behind many nations in the election of women to office.
However, with regard to women and electoral politics, there was not a huge change accomplishments of women until the 1960s and onward (Anderson 1, 1996). Today there is a record number of women in congress, with 20 serving in the Senate and 82 serving in the House of Representatives, which is still below 25% of members of the government (CAWP 2014). Women are underrepresented and less likely to be involved with or run for local or national levels of government. A popular belief, while unproven, is that women are less likely to run because they are concerned about their family responsibility (Fang 2014). Women are less likely to seek government positions because women are less likely to be encouraged to seek government positions, and are therefore less likely to be seen as a candidate for an open government position. Despite this, a Gallup poll in 2014 showed that 63 percent of Americans say that the U.S. would be more well governed if there were more political leaders who are women. So while women need to be more involved in political affairs to reduce the wage gap, the barrier isn 't that women are not wanted in office, nor that they are too focused on their families, but instead that there is very little encouragment for women to enter the political arena at
2. Nilges, Thorston. "Gender Inequality in Politics." Koed.hu. N.p., 2005. Web. 18 Mar. 2014. .
Though women have greatly advanced in the political forum over the past couple decades, advancement has been minimal. In the years between 1993 until 2011, approximately 20% of women were elected to the House of Commons.1 Despite women accounting for over 50% of the population in Canada, they persist to encompass approximately 25% of Canada’s House of Commons, provincial legislatures, and municipal councils. Further, as of July 2013, Canada ranks 46th in the representation of women in politics.1 Although in the past federal election of May 2011, when near to 25% of women were elected to the House of Commons, fewer women are still elected in Canada when compared to Australia, most of Europe, and parts of Asia.1 Moreover, it has been constantly demonstrated by polling data that women take interest in dissimilar issues. It has been stressed by the United Nations that policymaking equality is a vital component in the empowerment of women, and that before legislatures can generate public policy that represents women, a critical mass in needed. Hence, Canada must aim to increase awareness about the significance of a gender balanced government. This is because, if the representation of women is improved in the political system, then the prospects for other under-represented Canadians will flourish as well. This essay will: 1) outline why the under-representation of women in politics is an issue; 2) offer two major reasons for why women have such poor attendance in the political arena; and 3) will provide the reader with a couple solutions to the crisis.
According to the report, women have been running for public offices in ever increasing numbers. Nevertheless, it can sometimes be a daunting task, as women can sometimes encounter violence or prejudice in the field of politics. However, it seems that women’s difficulty in participating in government and politics is an issue which is being tackled in many areas. It seems that it is (or has been) an international issue, which is consistent across many cultures. The types of obstacles women face may vary from are to are, but there usually exist a few obstacles. For example, the report cited an example concerning the 2007 Kenyan general elections where a record number of women sought parliamentary seats, however, there were also unprecedented levels of violence. Women across the world have been grossly underrepresented in government for ages. Of course, certain things are...
Stereotypes is an issue that women politicians will unquestionably come across in any attempt to become a political representative. These gender specific expectations place the emphasis of the woman as a candidate and focus all the attention on the simple fact of the candidate’s gender. According to Deborah Carol Robson, socially desirable traits f...
Women of power are treated very poorly. These women of power include politicians, doctors, lawyers and businesswomen. Arguably, female politicians receive the worst treatment of all. Everything they do is constantly under media scrutiny, like what they wear and what they say, much more so than their male counterparts. The difference in the number of men and women congress members is vast, almost 5 to 1. Many women shy away from the political light for these reasons. An article, “Women in Politics”, written by Kenneth Jost, he explains the feats of women in the past 100 years:
The bar between men and women in politics is not set equally. Women candidates in the political race have won a handful close primaries, however some of those few races were f...
According to Lawless and Fox (n.d.) Only 17% of US senators are women, while the other 83% are men (pg. 1). The amount of men absolutely trumps the amount of women. Not only is that true with US senators, Tolleson and Josephson (2000) state that when it comes to US court of appeals judges, only 19.6% were women and 80.4% were men (pg. 225). This is pure evidence that when women don’t hold that strong threshold of aggressiveness and motivation to pursue that power, they don’t get too far in the political world. Although if it wasn’t for these traditional gender roles starting them off with the lack of strong attributes then this would be a whole different
Underrepresentation in government is a widely discussed, studied and debated phenomenon, the issue of which continues to gain greater attention and concern as the global community reaches for greater levels of equality, inclusion and fairness in the political realm. Underrepresentation in government excludes many from participating in the political arena based on distinctive characteristics of ethnic, cultural and gender differences, to list a few. While globally, strives have been made to lessen the gaps of underrepresentation in politics, the phenomenon continues to prevail and to affect many. It is important therefore to globally examine underrepresentation in politics so to determine why it prevails, where it occurs most prevalently and the reasons for its existence. The concentration of this paper will be to examine gender-based underrepresentation in politics, looking at why women are globally less represented. Specifically, this paper will examine the roles of women in politics in both South Africa and in Britain, so to compare and contrast the different levels of representation in each region, while deciphering the reasons for those differences. This paper aims to explore questions concerning the differing levels of female political representation in the two regions, the implications of those differing levels of representation and how history has impacted those levels of difference in either region.
...action with others… especially men. This supplies final substantiation of the authors' argument, that women continue to be oppressed by their male-dominated societies. It is a bold undertaking for women to ally and promote a world movement to abandon sexist traditions. Although I have never lived in a third world or non-Westernized country, I have studied the conditions women suffer as "inferior" to men. In National Geographic and various courses I have taken, these terrible conditions are depicted in full color. Gender inequality is a terrible trait of our global society, and unfortunately, a trait that might not be ready to change. In America we see gender bias towards women in voters' unwillingness to elect more females into high office, and while this is not nearly as severe as the rest of the world, it indicates the lingering practice of gender inequality.
The study of gender and politics has increasingly become a very popular area of study, giving us emerging classes like Women and Politics. These classes expose just how important it is to analyze gender and its role in politics, and allows us to expand our knowledge on the topic. The role of women in office, and in politics, in general has also increased; today the number of women in Congress and State legislatures is at an all-time high (Sanbonmatsu, 2007). So how exactly does gender play a role in politics, and more specifically how does being a woman affect one’s electability?