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Professor Sarah Childs
Gender and Politics: Theory and Research
Women’s Political Presence Anne Phillips (1995)
1. Justice arguments
2. Symbolic representation
3. Representation of women’s interests
4. Introduction of new values and concerns
Women in Westminster,1992-2010
By Sex
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
1992 1997 2001 2005 2010
men Women
By party
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
1997 2001 2005 2010
LibDemConsvLabour
Determinants of Women’s Descriptive Representation
• Socio-economic: women’s participation in the public sphere and ‘pipe-line’ professions; social-democratic state
• Cultural: measures of egalitarianism; secularism; date of women’s enfranchisement
• Political: proportional representation (PR); positive discrimination/quotas; women’s presence in party hierarchies; left wing parties; centralized party selection processes; salience of ‘women’s vote’
5
Supply and DemandSupply
• ‘outcome reflects supply of applicants’• Fewer resources: time, money, ambition, confidence,
experience
Demand• ‘selectors choose candidates depending on
their perceptions of the applicants’ abilities, qualifications and experience’• Direct discrimination• Indirect discrimination – what constitutes good MP• Imputed – perception that voters may discriminate
Descriptive and Substantive Representation
• ‘A substantial amount of circumstantial evidence nevertheless connects women’s presence to policies that address women’s concerns’ (Lovenduski 2005)
Re-gendering politics by regulating political parties
• Political parties should be more fully regulated in a feminist fashion to • include women; and• be committed to gender equality in politics
• This can be achieved via:• Party registration• Party funding• Party organization
8
appendices
9
Speaker’s Conference
• To ‘consider and make recommendations for rectifying the disparity between the representation of women, ethnic minorities and disabled people in the House of Commons and their representation in the UK population at large; and may agree to consider other associated matters’ (in practice, sexuality).
Recommendation 25• all political parties registered under part 2 of the PPERA
Act 2000 should be required to publish details of their candidate selections online every six months,…
• sex; ethnicity; whether the candidate is willing to identify as a disabled person.
• The reports might also include the following information: • nature of the impairment; • sexual orientation; • Age• Occupation• educational attainment
Speaker’s Conference Recommendation 24
• Parliament should give ‘serious consideration to the introduction of prescriptive quotas, ensuring that all political parties adopt some form of equality guarantee in time for the following general election’, should the parties fail to make significant progress in 2010 (emphasis added).
Guiding Principles
1. Prescription (requirements) vs permissive measures (preferences and targets)
2. Goodness of fit : target, type, and relative importance of individual regulations
3. Goodness of fit : regulations and associated incentive or penalty.
4. Financial implications
Making a Difference and ‘Acting for’ women
• ‘You can’t say we have changed that, but you can say, we’ve worked six weeks on that and…change has come about.’
• ‘So is it women? I think so. Don’t you think so?’
Acting for Women
House of Commons
• Parliamentary questions
• Signing of EDMs
• Sex Discrimination (EC) Act
• Reduction of VAT on Sanitary Products
Global rankings (www.ipu.org)
• 1st Rwanda 56%• 4th Sweden 45%• 7th Finland 43%• 8th South Africa 42%• 12th Mozambique
40%• 17th Belgium 38%
• 20th Spain 36%• 37st France 27%
• 58th UK 22%• 80th USA 17%• 89th Ireland 15%• 119th Brazil 9%
Women in National Parliaments, 1997 and 2010
1997 2010 % increase
Nordic 35.9 42.1 6
Europe – incl. Nordic 14.3 22.0 8
Americas 13.5 22.5 8
Asia 9.7 18.6 9
Europe – exc. Nordic 12.3 20.1 8
Sub-Saharan Africa 10.8 18.3 7
Pacific 12.8 13.2 0
Arab States 3.7 9.2 5