women in politics by sam and kim

8/14/2019 Women in Politics By Sam and Kim

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Women in Politics

Presentation done by : Samantha Abela and Kimberly Zammit


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Women represent half the potential talents and skills of humanity and theirunder representation in decision-making is a loss for society as a whole.

Declaration of Athens

Too often the great decision are originated and given form in bodies madeup wholly of men, or so completely dominated by them that whatever ofspecial value women have to offer is shunted aside without expression.

Eleanor Roosevelt


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Women have long been absent from the international scenarioof decision making process. Where are the women?Yet they

represent grosso modo half of the population of the world andthey have been kept out of the shaping of todays society for a

long time. Emancipation of womens participation in suchaffairs has a history of only four decades resulting after the rise

of female number of students in Western universities who

challenged this patriarchic administration.

In 1919, America gives the right to vote to women, by 1944 thecitizenship of women has progressed, but more then a centuryafter, during the New York Summit for the millennium in the

year 2000, a photograph shows us, with difficulty, only six

women lost amongst the head of states of 181 nations thatsurround the UN secretary general.


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The red cross marks the only 6 women present.


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Politics and International Relations, over time, have been compared to ahousehold where relations have to be carried out in harmony with each

other so as not to give rise to conflicts[1]. Hence womens traditional goodmanagement of the house is seen as an incentive to why their success shouldbe extended even to more effective actions such as Politics and International

Relations[2]. However this point, though acknowledged is not implementedin the social order of administration. Womens right to vote had to wait for

centuries because the conservatives within the paternalistic society saw it asunnatural for a woman to meddle in statecraft.

[1] While women clean after their husbands mess at home, consequently they are capable of cleaning the mess in

politics and end wars.[2] Antigone says: show me a man who rules the household well; Ill show you someone fit to rule the state.


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The first struggle of a woman in the international sphere is that of Suzy Borel who in1930 was elected as first diplomat but was seen as unfit to leave Paris. Her case is

similar to many other struggles that women had to pass in order to obtain recognitionof their true value. Despite the fact that on paper they were given equality, in reality

they were not given space for progress in their political carriers.

De facto a leader must not be weak to take important decisions. However womenhave not been given enough opportunity to prove themselves in for example militarypolitics. A case in point happened in 1972, when Bella Abzug was voted as a member

of the House of Representatives and made it her goal to end the war in Vietnam asmany in her electoral district wished. Still when she requested a seat in the HouseArmed Services Committee, her application was denied and she was suggested tosubmit an application to the Agricultural Committee because it was deemed more

appropriate for her. Other cases of the same genre are evidence that women in politicsare channeled to certain areas of influence which are perceived as more womens

issues.

A picture of the Congress woman Patricia Shroeder crying on her husbands shoulder,was used to question her presidential candidatature. Also Jean Kirkpatrick, who wasappointed ambassador by Ronald Reagan, complained that she wasnt taken seriously

by her fellow colleagues.


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In the year 2000, ten are the only women forming part of the188 UN representatives, while one out of fifteen members ison the Security Council of the same year. The United Nations

though has long helped to defend the rights of women andhelp them progress in their political careers. In 1946 it createdthe Commission on the Status of Women, followed soon afterin 1952 by a Convention advocating the right of contribution

of women in politics and following since then a series ofconventions to remind the world that women have a say in the

International scenario. In 2007, a new ratification ofResolution 1325 of the Security Council (2000) was passed, of

which one important clause states the following:

Reaffirming the important role of women in the preventionand resolution of conflicts and in peace-building, and

stressing the importance of their equal participation and fullinvolvement in all efforts for the maintenance and promotion

of peace and security, and the need to increase their role indecision-making with regard to conflict prevention and

resolution.


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Promotion to increase the number of women in politics is done in several ways. OnlySweden has over 50% of the government representative body, women. In the EU only

one out of every five members in a parliament is a woman, and it is the aim of this newmillennium era to increase that proportion. In the Beijing World Womens Conference

in 1995, the EU has sat in action the plan for Gender Mainstreaming and has sincethen fashioned the EU policy towards equal rights and opportunities between genders.In brief the EU commission commits itself to a cross sectional task to promote thisfairness thoroughly. In fact in the Amsterdam Treaty ratified in 1999, the signatories

abide to extend equal opportunities for men and women in all areas of policy coupledwith the continuation of positive activities (specific promotion of women) until

equality has actually been achieved. Thus this mainstreaming program makes it apriority for all EU policies to be checked and planned according to the consequencesthat they will have on the equality between men and women alike. The same principle

will also be employed when measures for future evaluation are taken in consideration.


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The above table shows the low percentage of Women participation in Europe atInternational Levels. When one sees the statistics recorded seven years later in

2007, we notice that in the case of the European Parliament there is no percentageincrease but in the European Commission there is a 10% increase of women

participation.


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Different organizations, not only in Europe but also globally, are now advocatingmethods on how to balance this difference in percentages. By looking at the

government appointed by the new French president Nicholas Sarkozy in June 2007,

it includes 36% women compared to 20% previously. Also in the UK, thereshufflement of the government by the new Prime Minister Brown, resulted in aless dramatic change then in France, rising womens participation from 28% to 33%.International instruments such as the Beijing Platform for Action 1995 (BPFA) andthe Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women(CEDAW) provide clear plan of actions on how to empower women in the politics.

Some examples include:

Programs within social groups to increase self-esteem and encourage women totake-decision making positions,The creation of training groups to offer help and guides for women who wish toenter a political campaign

Provide training to both genders to improve relations between men and women onworking placesEnsure respect for diversity and encourage the appointment of more women tonational and international posts, including Special Envoys, Resident Coordinatorsand other operational positions.
http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing/platform/http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing/platform/


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A very popular method to increase women ininternational affairs is to implement Quotaregulations in national parties, since for an effect toresult on the international front, one must cater the

problem at home. In spring of the year 2000, Belgiumwas the only EU member with such a regulation andafter its elections, womens participation percentageincreased positively. Thus Quotas became animportant asset in the EU agenda for gender equality.In France the same happened, demanding that

political parties must present equal number ofcandidates for European elections as well as for theSenate. Sanctions for who deviates from the quote by2% are implied. Awareness campaigns by NGOsencourage voters to vote for female candidates. In theUK, what is known as the Emilys list provides

financial support for election campaigns to femalecandidates, while the EU provides them with freematerials for their campaigns such as templates forads both on printer journals and on TV.


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"It is imperative that women contribute to important decisions concerninginternational security. They must be present at negotiating tables, in parliaments and

ministries, and at summit meetings. Organizations like Women In InternationalSecurity are invaluable for helping increase the influence of women in foreign anddefense policy making, and for building the next generation of women leaders".

Madeleine Albright

As Madeleine Albright, one of the founders of WIIS (Women in InternationalSecurity) said, women are an asset for modern decision taking process. They need to

become protagonists and be acknowledged for their job. WIIS is thus one of the mainadvocates for more equality regarding womens participation in politics and using itslinks and well established network, it helps to promote awareness amongst different

social groups. Condoleezza Rice and Angela Merkel are the only two prominentwomen of modern politics. In May 07, we also saw the harsh presidential elections in

France, during which, Sgolne Royal, had the chance to become the first French

President, and during 2008 we so the political campaign of Hilary Clinton who wasrunning as one of the favorites for the American Presidential elections.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%A9gol%C3%A8ne_Royalhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%A9gol%C3%A8ne_Royalhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%A9gol%C3%A8ne_Royalhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%A9gol%C3%A8ne_Royal


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Richard Wagner, news director of WCHS - TV in Charleston WestVirgina, reported; I feel that at present there is still an

atmosphere of discrimination against women in the media frommen in the media who see them getting in easier than they did,

from viewers who think all they are is a pretty face and from

management who look at them only as a statistic that needs to befilled in on an EEO form. Differences in Media coverage of

genders still persist and journalists are becoming more subtle incriticizing women politicians who are challenging the status quoof the male dominated politics both at national and Internationallevels. In early decades, after the women got the vote, media was

quite crude and blunt with women politicians.

Caption read as: The Last few buttons are alwaysthe hardest. (1920)


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Women politicians still have to confront journalists who instead of questioningthem regarding their campaigns, they ask them personal questions about their

families and private life in general. Reporters still perpetuate in using terms thatfocus on womens appearance, behavior and their traditional role as wives and

mothers to describe them as politicians. While the Media objective should be toanalyze politicians and their policiesper se and through a constructive critic lens,on the wider scale, men politicians receive coverage regarding what they say and

what they believe should be done in regards an issue, while women are stillsubjects to critics on their choice of clothes and what they feel in regards the

issue at hand. An example is that of the Finnish President Tarja Halonens, who

during her first state visit to Sweden the media were more enthralled with herplain looks and bad fashion sense, than with the substance of her visit. Also

Elizabeth Doles ability to serve as commander-in-chief was question because shelikes to coordinate the color of her shoes with the color of the rug on stage".Substance politics is still not associated with womens entrepreneurship in

politics.


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Another interesting incident happened in 1997, when 101 Labour women wereelected in the British parliament and the front-page headlines figures a title of

Blairs Babes with a photo-montage of all the women and Blair beaming in thefront. This act by the media was quite a back stab to the new authority that thee

women held but also belittled them in regards to the possessive apostrophe usedand the sexual implications of the term babes.


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Media also hits upon martial status of female politicians. If one is married she is saidto have abandoned her family but on the other hand, for Annette Schavan, receivednegative media coverage because she is unmarried. She was also said to be lesbian(which she denied) and ultimately she lost to a male candidate.

Women are still belittled by the media as it is thecase of the Danish minister who was cited as: Sweetand involved but also a bit nave (...) HenrietteKjr has the heart, theres no doubt about it, but shefails to demonstrate the results in practice. A sweetsmile from a minister in the very best broadcastingtime will not help the outcasts and the redundant.


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According to different studies by Gidengil and Everitt both in the year 2000 and in2003 speeches by female politicians in Canada for example, are more filtered and

journalists are more prone to paraphrase what a woman politician said, then ithappens in case of a male politician. Also, it happens that female politicians are less

quoted then male politicians. As a study by Aday and Devitt in 2001 regarding the USelections, shows that Elizabeth Dole was quoted directly 44.5% of the time, compared

to 56% for Bush, 63% for McCain and 67% for Forbes.

The spincity factor still marginalizes women, making history still more popularacclaimed, while herstory has to struggle to achieve some sincere interest without any

discrimination or satire involved.


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Also the EU funded a very important project called Portraying Politicsthat investigated how women are portrayed in the media, hoping that this

analytical study raises awareness. The following Tables were in factscanned from the Report about the project.

women in politics by sam and kim

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