Men and Media: Friends or Enemy of Women Parliamentarians? Under-Representation of Women in Politics

Abstract

So now women think they are capable of holding the highest office in the land. It’s bad enough that we allow these female creatures to operate automobiles. Imagine what would happen if one of them became president! Let’s keep women at home where they belong (Krasner, 1964: edited in Falk, 2008: 31) Many years have passed since women obtained voting rights. Although role of women in political, economic and social life has largely increased, they are still relatively poorly represented at the top of managerial positions and rarely reach the areas of political authority. In the modern politics, women’s low presences in parliaments around the world become a central issue among society (Ballington 2009). Recent developments in the field of gender equality have led to renewed interest in this domain and finally have been acknowledged for the first time in history as being problematic (Sawer, 2010). Recent evidence suggests that as the number of women's population varies around 50 per cent (UNSD, 2012), the importance of equal access to decision making for women cannot be ignored (Ballington and Karam, 2005; Haffert at el, 2010). This paper investigates the barriers to gender inequality created by male domination and unequal representation of women politians by media in national politics and also explores the ways in which these difficulties are experienced. The study illuminates the position, perception and thoughts on women's political careers and explores the reasons for gender inequality in the political elite across some european parliaments.