Women In Politics Research Articles

A Contribution to the Study of Violence Against Women in Politics

This chapter addresses various aspects of the emerging research area, exploring concepts, theories, and data related to the study of violence against women in politics. It occurs within the political sphere but specifically targets women. It is used to reinforce traditional social and political structures by targeting women leaders who challenge patriarchy and the prevailing social expectations and norms. In many societies, such practices are marginalized, naturalized, depoliticized, and remain invisible. When female politicians are attacked for their political views alone, this is not necessarily a case of violence against women in politics. Ambiguity emerges, however, due to the fact that the means for attacking female politicians often rely on gendered scripts, focusing on women’s bodies and their traditional social roles, primarily as mothers and wives, to deny or undercut women’s competence in the political sphere. Symbolic and semiotic violence in politics can be effective in sustaining women’s oppression because it is subtle, euphemized, and invisible. Even if women recognize these acts as exercises of power, they still do not name it violence, even in societies with greater levels of gender equality. The concept of semiotic violence refers to the use of language, images and symbols as a means to marginalize and disqualify women as political actors. Often normalized, these dynamics serve to maintain gender hierarchies, undermining democracy and eroding the possibilities for women’s political empowerment. In response to the question of how to solve the problem of violence against women in politics, researchers offer a solution in the form of a comprehensive approach to addressing this sort of violence.

The role of gender in shaping mayoral grant-seeking behaviours

ABSTRACT Research suggests that women face anticipated stereotypes and voter penalisations in their pursuit of political office. To overcome these challenges women have to be better than men in terms of their experience, candidate quality, and political work. We test the hypothesis that women politicians exert more effort compared to men by analysing grant applications submitted by towns in Slovakia between 2016 and 2021. We investigate municipalities in a Slovak region where local governments apply for subsidies in two policy areas, one stereotypically feminine and one masculine. We test whether women apply more often for grants in the realm of the feminine policy compared to masculine policy. We find that municipalities led by women mayors are more active than those led by men mayors in the number of grant applications regardless of the area of policy. Our analysis confirms that once in political office, women show higher effort compared to men.

Understanding political skills and leadership styles on public satisfaction in women politicians

Understanding political skills and leadership styles on public satisfaction in women politicians

Exploring identity: A Critical Discourse Analysis on “Nepali Women in Politics Success and Challenges”

The research paper explores the idea placed in the article “Nepali Women in Politics: Success and Challenges” by Bishnu Raj Upreti, Drishti Upreti and Yamuna Ghale published in the ‘Journal of International Women’s Studies’ on April 2020 from the perspectives of CDA, a relatively recent approach to analyzing discourse. The paper provides the definitions and overview of some CDA models mainly of Norman Fairclough, Ruth Wodak, T.A. Van Dijk and so on. Language, ideology and discourse are inseparable notions as we talk about media, translation and Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA). We get information from many sources which we use to interpret the world. Personal interactions with others provide us the insight with their knowledge and experience, cultural conventions and practices in their social world. On the other hand, television, radio, newspaper and magazines, the internet and many other sources with their different values provide us information. Language is the main mood through which most of the sources give information and most of these sources can be interpreted and analyzed using Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA). The paper will discuss how the discourse used by the three authors in the article shows women’s struggle for equality in Nepal for the establishment of their identity in the society by exposing themselves in politics.

The FIFA World Cup 2022, National Identity, and the Politics of Women’s Sports Participation in Qatar

The FIFA World Cup 2022, National Identity, and the Politics of Women’s Sports Participation in Qatar

The nonlinear road to happiness: Making sense of ESGD impacts on well-being

This study examines the heterogeneous impact of environmental, social, governance, and digital (ESGD) factors on subjective well-being across 86 countries from 2005 to 2019, using Method of Moments Quantile Regression. The results reveal complex, nonlinear relationships between ESGD factors and well-being. CO2 emissions display an inverted U-curve, suggesting eventual negative impacts after initial gains. Our findings suggest that renewable energy only benefits higher quantiles, revealing affordability issues. Social and governance factors like labor participation and women's political participation relate nonlinearly to well-being across income levels, reflecting employment quality and social norms differences. Similarly, digital factors improve well-being in high-income countries but not lower-middle-income nations, due to economic complexity gaps and the digital divide. A “digital economy paradox” emerges where more digital skills combined with limited digital economies decrease well-being in lower-middle income countries signifying the need for tailored digital policies. This study enhances understanding of links between ESGD factors and well-being patterns.

Gordana Subotić: Gender, Nation, and Women Politicians in Serbia and Kosovo. A Political Ethnography

Gordana Subotić: <i>Gender, Nation, and Women Politicians in Serbia and Kosovo. A Political Ethnography</i>

Constitutional Amendment 106 Women Reservation - What can be Learned from 1/3rd PRI Reservation?

Abstract: Attaining gender inclusion and political empowerment is the goal of the historic Constitutional Amendment for Women's Reservation, which calls for a one-third reservation for women in Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs). The dynamics of women's participation in grassroots governance can be better understood by looking at the lessons learned from PRIs' implementation of the 1/3rd reservation. In rural local bodies, like as Panchayats, women were required to occupy one-third of the seats under the 73rd Amendment Act of 1992. In an effort to rectify past gender inequalities, increase women's representation in decision-making bodies, and boost their social and political standing, this proactive policy was put in place. The revolutionary effect on women's political engagement is one important takeaway from the one-third reservation in PRIs. Women were able to take part in local administration through the reserved seats, which helped them develop their leadership abilities and increase their visibility in public service. As a result, women's status in communities was enhanced, and decisionmaking became more inclusive and equal. The importance of prioritizing health, education, and social welfare issues is positively correlated with women's political representation, which is another lesson. To address pressing social issues, women PRI officials frequently fought for policies that would have a direct positive effect on women's and marginalized communities' quality of life. In addition, the 1/3rd reservation effort highlighted the significance of initiatives that strengthen the abilities of female leaders. To help women successfully carry out their responsibilities as leaders, educational and training programs were crucial in providing them with the information and abilities they needed to understand and handle the many facets of government. Even with these good results, there are still problems. In many cases, women are unable to reach their full leadership potential due to cultural biases, patriarchal attitudes, and resistance from established power structures. If we want women to have an impact in politics, we need to break down these entrenched stereotypes and create conditions where they feel comfortable taking an active role

Facework display of a political leader: Linguo-rhetoric approach (the case study of Julia Gillard's speech on misogyny)

This article focuses on the cognitive rhetoric features of the politician's facework that incorporate face threatening acts, communicative strategies, and discursive functions in a political speech. The data were taken from the speech on misogyny delivered in 2012 by the 27th Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard. Throughout the article we disclose the interaction of the politician's face, politeness, and power in the institutional discourse. Julia Gillard does her facework actively engaged into the misogyny argument which provides a persuasive ground to confront the opponent's face through reinforced employment of both positive and negative face threatening acts. The findings suggest that doing facework through rhetorical practices Gillard signals her identity in three faces: a political leader, a female politician and her individual social self-image of a woman and daughter. Gillard's face claims are closely bound with her sense of sociality rights and obligations. This entails her relational and collective self-construal prevail over her individual face. The symbolic power obliges Gillard to protect her collective self-credibility and makes the ground for undermining the self-worth of the opponent in a rather straightforward manner. The politeness Gillard exercises is mainly prescribed by the institutional goal and status which directly impact the use of the linguistic means employed by the politician.

Working Mothers and Political Daughters: Intergenerational Dynamics of Women's Political Officeholding

Abstract We study a new driving factor of women's inclusion in politics: the economic empowerment of their mothers. We evaluate Swedish microdata on politicians and their parents over fifty years. The results demonstrate a strong intergenerational dynamic from mothers to daughters. Female politicians come from households where their mother is more likely to be employed, earns more in the labour market, and earns a larger share of household earnings. This pattern was strong among parliamentarians in the 1970s and 1980s when female numerical representation increased rapidly in Sweden but is not present in national politics after the introduction of gender quotas in the early 1990s or in local politics.

Are women politicians outperformed by men? The impact of gender on legislative activity in Japan

AbstractObjectivesGiven the distinct political landscape of Japan, this study aims to explore the impact of gender on the parliamentary behavior of Japanese legislators.MethodsUtilizing a self‐constructed data set covering the 44th–48th Diets (2005–2021), this study examines the individual‐level parliamentary activities of male and female legislators in Japan. Key metrics analyzed include the frequency of speeches delivered in both plenary and committee sessions, alongside the submission of memorandums to the Diet.ResultsThe findings indicate that on the whole, gender exerts only a minimal effect on parliamentary activities. However, upon closer examination of members belonging to opposition parties during specific time periods, female legislators emerge as more active in terms of questioning and memorandum submission compared to their male counterparts.ConclusionThis study unveils a noteworthy trend wherein women legislators in Japan demonstrate equal or greater engagement in parliamentary activities than their male counterparts. These findings underscore the importance of exploring gender dynamics within political systems beyond the Western sphere. Moreover, they emphasize the necessity for ongoing research into gender representation and participation within Japan's political arena.

The Way She Moves: Political Repositioning and Gender Stereotypes

Abstract Research on policy shifts has found that repositioning can be costly as it affects candidates’ perceived honesty, reliability, and competence. It remains unclear, however, whether a politician’s gender affects perceptions of repositioning. Research on gender stereotypes has found that while male politicians are viewed as more competent, decisive, and displaying strong leadership, female politicians are believed to be more honest. Applying expectancy-violation theory, I test the hypothesis that the reputational cost of repositioning is more pronounced for female politicians in a preregistered survey experiment fielded on a large convenience sample in Flanders, Belgium (n = 6,957). I find that while frequent repositioning is evaluated negatively, the negative effect of repositioning is not more pronounced for female candidates than for male candidates on most outcome measures.

The cost of politics: how money acts as a barrier for women in politics in the Caribbean

ABSTRACT This article explores the barriers to women’s political representation, focusing on financial challenges associated with political campaigns. It contributes to the emerging body of research on the gendered effects of money in politics, particularly in the Global South, by documenting the financial challenges faced by women political candidates in the Anglophone Caribbean. Data was collected through elite interviews with women politicians in Barbados, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago. The women were asked, among other things, to i) identify the barriers to women’s political representation and ii) recount their experiences while seeking to enter politics. Financial constraints emerged as a critical barrier to women’s political entry and participation. Although some women manage to enter the political arena and win elections, they nonetheless find the costs associated with politics burdensome and a barrier to increasing political representation for women. We conclude that, like their counterparts elsewhere, the financial demands of engaging in politics are exorbitant for women in politics in the Anglo-Caribbean due to their general exclusion from influential funding networks predominantly controlled by the “old boys’ club”; reliance on personal resources; balancing childcare and other gendered roles with demanding fundraising activities; and navigating the system of political patronage. This burden was incredibly challenging for “political neophytes” or women newcomers.

Policymakers’ Abortion Preferences: Understanding the Intersection of Gender and Wealth

When are politicians willing to liberalize abortion laws? While restricted access to legal abor- tion affects millions of women around the world, there is relatively little understanding of the factors shaping the views of politicians who craft or uphold such restrictive laws. This study examines the impact of a public health framing commonly employed by activists to persuade politicians to reform abortion laws. We provide evidence that politicians’ preferences toward abortion reforms are shaped by the intersection of gender and wealth. Drawing on a survey experiment conducted among more than 600 politicians in Zambia, we show that only women politicians from less wealthy backgrounds are more likely to support policy liberalization after being exposed to a public health framing. These findings underscore how economic inequal- ities can affect the substantive representation of women’s interests and provide a baseline for further research on the use of framing strategies in other developing country contexts.

Women in Politics - A comparative Analysis of Gender Quotas in Different Countries

In order to evaluate the efficacy of gender quotas in boosting women's representation and involvement in politics, this research paper compares the implementation and results of these policies in a number of different nations. Through an analysis of the legal structures, cultural backgrounds, and implementation strategies supporting gender quotas across a range of nations, this research aims to comprehend the disparities in the rates of success in attaining gender parity in political institutions. The study assesses the effects of various quota types (legislated vs. voluntary party quotas) and the influence of both internal and foreign forces on these policies using qualitative and quantitative analysis. Furthermore, the research delves into the opposition and criticism directed towards gender quotas, in addition to their enduring consequences on the political terrain.

Women in Politics and the Public Sphere: Munich 1918/1919

Women have never been passive bystanders to the history being made around them and they have always found ways to contribute to shaping their world. Munich in 1918/1919 provides a useful site to examine women's experiences and roles due to the long-standing involvement of women in the peace movement and welfare work, as well as the foundation of the Bavarian Soviet Republic after the First World War. However, Munich in the early years of the Weimar Republic is most commonly associated with Adolf Hitler's Beer Hall Putsch in 1923, an attempt by right-wing men to seize political power. Moreover, the 1918 revolution is also often told through the lens of male political figures. As a result, politics in the early twentieth century is easy to view as a male-dominated affair with women merely experiencing the effects of male political power. This era, particularly from the perspective of Munich, also becomes viewed through the lens of the rise of fascism, which obscures and distorts the alternative political visions many women held and worked towards. This article centres on women's experiences and roles in politics and the public sphere in revolutionary Munich to ask what opportunities the revolution and its immediate aftermath presented for women and how they were able to influence political decision-making despite huge barriers. Through an understanding of how their world was gendered, their role as political agents comes to the fore.

Tweeting from fear: Gender violence against feminists on Twitter during COVID-191

The research addresses how gender violence against feminists on Twitter during COVID-19 is produced. Mainly focused in the Catalan cultural context, 462,281 attacks on Twitter were analysed, using virtual ethnography and content analysis. We also conducted semi-structured interviews with key agents. This enabled to (1) analyse the profiles of feminists subjected to attacks and those who attack them, (2) identify the characteristics of this violence: how it appears, to which subjects it refers and what the trigger is, (3) identify which axes of inequality intersect in the attacks. The results determine that there are specific typologies of aggressors, that there is a correlation between the political–social agenda and the attacks, essentially on female politicians and journalists and that they tend to happen collectively as personal aggressions that get worse if they intersect with racial issues, for example.

WOMEN IN REPRESENTATIVE BODIES OF POWER IN 2017-2021: A CROSS-NATIONAL ANALYSIS

The paper analyzes similarities and differences in the social portrait of female politicians in the countries of Western, Eastern Europe and North America (Great Britain, Germany, Ireland, Poland, Russia, and USA), as well as the correlation between the state specifics of socio-economic and political spheres and the level of women's representation in politics. A cross-national study of the trajectories of women entering politics was implemented on the basis of the database “Women in representative bodies of power, political parties and activism, 2017-2021” prepared by the research team. The sections of the database help in covering the gender agenda of political parties, the presence or absence of gender quotas at the intra-party or state levels, the representation of women in party bodies and electoral lists for 2017-2021. They also help in providing a detailed portrait of female deputies. Based on the concept of descriptive and substantive representation, the authors identify the key characteristics of the portrait of a female parliamentarian in the selected countries and conclude that parties, in particular their regional branches or youth organizations, are the main channel for recruiting professional female politicians. Activism, despite its visibility in the media, becomes a channel for promotion to parliament for only one in five female parliamentarians in the selected countries. Based on the application of correlation analysis, an assumption is formulated, which needs to be confirmed on a larger sample, that intra-party decisions on gender quotas, rather than state ones, play a more significant role in increasing the representation of women in the party’s faction.

Women in politics: examining their impact on policy development — A comprehensive review

The representation of women in political offices has expanded in every country over the last few decades. Commencing with a historical overview, this review underscores the persistent obstacles and cultural constraints that have hindered women's political engagement. The primary focus is on identifying and dissecting impediments such as ingrained gender prejudices, unequal access to education, and sociocultural constraints. This comprehensive examination explores the crucial role of women in politics and their profound impact on policy formulation. Global attention has increased on gender equity and women's political representation, emphasizing the importance of understanding how women's participation in political decision-making processes influences policy outcomes. The involvement of women in politics, particularly in poorer countries where health and education are priority sectors, has led to improvements in the delivery of public services. The review delves into the political empowerment of women, highlighting the positive social change and role modeling that women in politics can provide in their local areas. Recent studies suggest that the makeup of public expenditure may not necessarily reflect the impact of female representation on legislative debates and specific policy decisions. Female participation has enhanced institutional quality by reducing corruption and yielding benefits for those in positions of responsibility. The review advocates for greater gender diversity in political decision-making by examining obstacles, proposing solutions, and emphasizing the ongoing need for research and advocacy to support and promote the invaluable contributions of women to global policy development.

Do Women Politicians Know More about Women’s Policy Preferences? Evidence from Canada

Abstract This study draws together theories of women’s substantive representation and research on politicians’ knowledge of constituent preferences. We ask whether politicians are better at predicting their constituents’ policy preferences when they share the same gender. In doing so, we contribute to knowledge about the mechanisms underlying substantive representation. Using original surveys of 3,750 Canadians and 867 elected politicians, we test whether politicians correctly perceive gender gaps in their constituents’ policy preferences and whether women politicians are better at correctly identifying the policy preferences of women constituents. Contrary to expectations from previous research, we do not find elected women to be better at predicting the preferences of women constituents. Instead, we find that all politicians — regardless of their gender — perform better when predicting women’s policy preferences and worse when predicting men’s preferences. The gender of the constituent matters more than the gender of the politician.