Gender Inequality In Politics Research Articles

Sexism and women's access to justice: Feminist judging in Indonesian Islamic judiciary

Sexism in the judicial system is a persistent problem in countries where women frequently are held to a different moral standard than men. As such, some advocates and legal experts argue that feminist judging practices are necessary for ensuring women's access to justice. While many studies focus on the effect of sexism on gender inequality in politics, the extent to which sexism may lead to further gender inequality in the judiciary remains understudied. Additionally, much research on feminist judging relies on qualitative data from trial or court transcripts to determine judges' approaches, but quantitative examinations of feminist judging are still few. Drawing on a mixed methods sequential explanatory approach, our study examines how sexism contributes to shaping the support for feminist judging in the Indonesian Islamic judiciary. We use several cases of polygamy, marriage dispensation, divorce involving domestic violence, and post-divorce alimony as proxies to measure the support for feminist judging. The findings show that hostile sexism is not statistically associated with the support for feminist judging, but benevolent sexism facilitates judges' support for feminist approaches. Female judges are more likely to support feminist judging than male judges.

Social Support, Gender and the Roots of Political Efficacy: Evidence from the Swiss Household Panel

Abstract This study explores how social support, defined as the number and quality of close relationships, affects feelings of political influence. Using Swiss Household Panel data (1999–2018), it reveals that the quality of relationships (emotional support) enjoyed from weak ties drives women’s political efficacy, while having no significant effect for men. In addition to extending on the socially oriented drivers of political engagement, social support has the potential to reduce female disadvantage in political efficacy and eventually alleviate gen der inequality in politics.

Electoral Systems and Gender Inequality in Political News: Analyzing the News Visibility of Members of Parliament in Norway and the UK

Research continues to find gender inequality in politics and political communication, but our understanding of the variation in the degree of bias across systems is limited. A recent meta-analysis reveals how, in countries with proportional representation (PR), the media pay considerably more attention to men politicians. In plurality systems, this bias is absent. The present study proposes a new explanation for this finding, emphasizing how the size of electoral districts moderates both the demand for and supply of women politicians in news reporting. Analyzing more than 600,000 news appearances made by Norwegian and British MPs from 2000 to 2016, we produce a detailed picture of gender biases in news visibility that speaks in favor of single-member districts in plurality systems. Although PR is generally recognized as advantageous for the political representation of women, our findings call for a more nuanced understanding of the link between electoral systems and gender equality.

The Role of Patriarchy, Women’s Participation in Electing a Woman into Top Political Leadership of Kenya

Leadership is not only contextual, but it’s also significantly influenced by the patriarchal society. Unequivocally there is no consensus as to why women are underrepresented in the top echelons of the country. Since its inception, the Kenyan government patriarchy has taken the center stage and even the women who fought for independence were never considered for leadership but were relegated to the periphery. The 2022 general elections in Kenya come at a time when the two-third gender rule has never been implemented. Even with Maraga ruling that the president dissolves parliament for failing to implement the two-thirds gender rule, it was also unheeded. On the other hand, the patriarchal government has presented and nominated a woman for the position of Deputy President in the Azimio coalition. This is a position that has been received with mixed feelings, some with celebration and others with disgust. This disgust is based on their particular inclination. The question remains was she put there with good faith, or it’s just to become a stepladder to help the Azimio coalition to gain mirage? Bearing in mind the entrenchment of the patriarchal ideologies in most tribes in Kenya will men vote for a woman in the office of the deputy president in Kenya? These are the issues feminist leaders are wrestling with. The purpose of this paper is to establish the barriers that hinder women from being elected to the top echelon of the leadership of this country, and secondly, to discuss the role of patriarchy in keeping women away from the decision-making table and the top leadership of the nation. The paper provides a solution to enhancing women’s election into the top leadership in Kenya. It suggests that men must champion the election of a woman into top leadership. It contributes toward breaking the glass ceiling and political gender inequality, and suggests inclusivity as a way forward in having a woman in the top leadership of a country. Also, the partnership between men and women to support and elect a woman leader is a prerogative. Breaking the glass ceiling and electing a woman to the top leadership position of being the deputy president in Kenya brings hope and inspiration not only to the Kenyan women but also to the whole society.

Gender, Politics and Governance: Assessment of Women’s Attitude towards Political Participation in Ekiti South Senatorial District of Southwestern Nigeria

This paper seeks to examine the gender power relations in leadership in Nigeria by assessing the women’s attitude towards political participation at different levels of political activities and investigate the factors sustaining gender inequality in politics in Ekiti South Senatorial district in Southwestern Nigeria. The study adopted descriptive survey design. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected for the study. Results showed that women had poor attitude towards political activities (40.3%) and the women’s level of political participation at contesting for political posts was low (22%). However, inferences drawn from the analysis of the study showed that there were significant association between women’s membership in political parties (χ2=17.292, p<0.001), age (t=3.272, p=0.001) and occupation (χ2=13.592, p=0.004). The study identified inadequate finance, insecurity, gender roles, lack of policy implementation as challenges causing gender inequality in politics. The study concludes that improving women’s attitude as crucial for bridging the gender gap in politics.

Participação feminina na política brasileira

Este artigo possui como objetivo analisar a participação política feminina e qual a importância para que o Estado Democrático de Direito, positivado na Constituição Federal, seja concretizado. Logo após, buscou-se enumerar algumas barreiras encontradas pelas mulheres que as impedem de chegar aos postos de poder e participar amplamente da política formal, embora sejam participativas historicamente da política informal, através de luta para terem seus direitos efetivados. Analisou-se também o modelo jurídico de proteção à participação feminina na política, bem como os parâmetros internacionais e constitucionais de garantia desse direito, buscando saber se realmente são efetivos. Por fim, procurou-se constatar a sub-representatividade feminina na política após as eleições de 2018 e quais são as deficiências do modelo. Conclui-se que o quadro de desigualdade de gênero na política ainda persiste, embora haja ações afirmativas que busquem a isonomia.

How Women Mobilize Women Into Politics: A Natural Experiment in India

It is widely assumed that female politicians increase women's political participation through demonstration effects, which are psychological mechanisms with origins in political theory. Yet, gendered constraints on women's mobility and information access diminish the scope of demonstration effects, especially in developing countries. This paper introduces a new explanation of how female politicians mobilize women despite these constraints. Female representation has mobilization effects. Female politicians have the capacity and the incentive to lower household and party barriers to recruit women as party activists. Female-led party-building puts female activists at the helm of ground campaigns, shrinking the gender gap in door-to-door contact. Receiving partisan contact increases women's political participation. Evidence from the natural experiment of randomized gender quotas in India, and original data from citizen and elite surveys support this argument. The findings highlight how the political economy of gender is pivotal to our understanding of how descriptive representation lowers political gender inequality.

Pierwsza dama w internetowych memach obrazkowych na wybranych przykładach

<p>Badanie dyskursu pojawiającego się w memach jest istotne, ponieważ pokazuje, jakie tematy szczególnie absorbują opinię publiczną. Podstawą dla prowadzonych rozważań będą wyniki analizy ilościowej oraz jakościowej, która została przeprowadzona na ponad 200 memach opublikowanych na portalu Demotywatory.pl. Badania empiryczne oparto na analizie zawartości typu frekwencyjno-tematycznego, a wykorzystanym narzędziem badawczym był program SPSS. Punktem odniesienia teoretycznego uczyniono model zintegrowanego wyjaśniania przyczyn nierówności płci w polityce, który pozwala spojrzeć na materiał badawczy z perspektywy uwzględniającej elementy polityki równościowej. Zrealizowane na potrzeby niniejszego artykułu analizy umożliwiły weryfikację hipotezy badawczej: Przyczyny kulturowe nierówności płci w polityce, w tym zwłaszcza stereotypizacja, to główny element widoczny w obrazie polskiej pierwszej damy, wykreowanym w memach poddanych analizie.</p><p><br />Artykuł podzielono na trzy części. We wprowadzeniu znalazły się podstawowe ustalenia teoretyczne dotyczące aktywności politycznej kobiet oraz memów internetowych. Ponadto szczegółowo przedstawiono metodologię przeprowadzonych badań (metoda badawcza, hipoteza oraz pytania badawcze). Zasadnicza część to prezentacja wyników badań ilościowych i jakościowych wybranych memów internetowych. Celem prowadzonych badań było sprawdzenie tego, jaki obraz pierwszej damy wykreowano w badanych memach. Pokazano różnice i podobieństwa w obrazowaniu pierwszej damy Polski i innych krajów świata. Poszukiwano odpowiedzi na wiele pytań: na co najbardziej zwracają uwagę twórcy memów, jeśli chodzi o obraz żony prezydenta, czy w badanych memach można dostrzec obecność stereotypów płciowych, w jakich okresach zainteresowanie pierwszą damą jest największe i czy na przestrzeni lat coś się w tym zakresie zmieniło? Trzeci fragment to zakończenie, w którym podsumowano rezultaty badań oraz potwierdzono hipotezę badawczą. Obraz pierwszej damy uwidoczniony w analizowanych memach to przykład stereotypowego przedstawiania obrazu kobiety obecnej w sferze polityki, co wpisuje się w przyczyny kulturowe niedoreprezentowania kobiet w polityce, które wskazano w zintegrowanym modelu wyjaśniania przyczyn nierówności płci w polityce.</p>

The hegemonic gender order in politics

PurposeDespite the ongoing increase of women in the top positions, they are still underrepresented in politics. The studies that primarily focus on women’s underrepresentation in politics neglect the role of gender as a category that structures and makes sense of social practices. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the mechanisms that regulate the contemporary gender order in politics through discourse analysis and the contribution of the critical feminist perspective.Design/methodology/approachThe study is based on 30 biographical interviews with Italian politicians and focuses on the account of their political experiences and on the meanings attributed to these.FindingsThe results of this paper underline the tendency to either absolve or blame women for gender inequality in politics through different interpretative repertoires: “Women’s disinterest toward politics,” “Politics as masculine context” and “Politics–family unbalance.” The analysis allowed to unravel the way in which the discursive practices create and reproduce the hegemonic gender order in politics.Research limitations/implicationsThe research is limited to 30 qualitative interviews, and so results cannot be generalized.Practical implicationsThe findings of this paper highlight the importance of exploring issues relating to the gender gap in politics and stress the need to implement actions to promote gender equality in politics.Originality/valueThe paper contributes to an understanding of women’s underrepresentation in politics and offers causes for reflection on a phenomenon that has profound implications for our society.

Ambivalent sexism in the United Arab Emirates: Quantifying gender attitudes in a rapidly modernizing society

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has prioritized increasing equality between men and women. This research investigates whether equality initiatives are reflected in residents’ attitudes toward women. Five hundred eighty-four Arab participants completed measures of ambivalent sexism, religiosity, and political conservatism, and reported stereotypes about women. Results suggest that Arab participants score similarly on measures of hostile and benevolent sexism to participants from other countries high in economic and political gender inequality; and measures of hostility and benevolence correlate with social attitudes as they do elsewhere around the globe. However, unlike in other datasets exploring contexts of high gender inequality, Arab women score significantly lower on benevolent sexism than men. We explore these findings in light of political and legal policies that have different implications for women’s empowerment in the public and private spheres.

Political gender inequality and infant mortality in the United States, 1990–2012

Although gender inequality has been recognized as a crucial factor influencing population health in the developing world, research has not yet thoroughly documented the role it may play in shaping U.S. infant mortality rates (IMRs). This study uses administrative data with fixed-effects and random-effects models to (1) investigate the relationship between political gender inequality in state legislatures and state infant mortality rates in the United States from 1990 to 2012, and (2) project the population level costs associated with women's underrepresentation in 2012. Results indicate that higher percentages of women in state legislatures are associated with reduced IMRs, both between states and within-states over time. According to model predictions, if women were at parity with men in state legislatures, the expected number of infant deaths in the U.S. in 2012 would have been lower by approximately 14.6% (3,478 infant deaths). These findings underscore the importance of women's political representation for population health.

Julia Gillard and the Gender Wars

The Australian news media used the metaphor of the gender war(s) to describe Julia Gillard's political strategies and speech acts in the final nine months of her term as that nation's first woman prime minister. In particular, the metaphor was mobilized in response to Gillard's October 9, 2012, parliamentary speech on sexism and misogyny. Based on a critical discourse analysis of the gender wars allegory as it was applied to Gillard by three Australian newspapers, my article analyzes the meanings revealed by metaphoric constructions of the former prime minister's speeches as unusual and unjust forms of political warfare. I argue that the trope of the gender wars cast Gillard's political tactics as a violation of deeply held cultural norms about appropriate behavior on the so-called political battlefield, and it worked both to discipline Gillard for raising issues of sexism and gender inequality in politics and to bracket gendered power relations out of everyday understandings of political competition.

TOWARDS GENDER EQUALITY: UKRAINE IN THE 21ST CENTURY

Purpose. This article attempts to examine the current state of addressing gender inequality in Ukraine. Methodology. The author has used methodology of historical inquiry, hermeneutical methodology and content analysis. Theoretical basis and results. Issues about gender imbalance are acute in Ukraine. Gender inequality in politics is a matter of serious concern. Insignificant part of women in political and decision-making processes is a serious challenge to democracy. Discrimination in the labor market should be noted. Obvious gender inequality in the labor market has led to feminization of poverty. Violence against women has become an acute problem, which can be resolved at the state level only. Although international and national legislation is based on the principle of equality, in practice women are not equal in social life and activities. There is a deep contradiction between the new needs in society and the lack of conditions for their satisfaction. This situation appears to be a challenge to modern Ukrainian society and state of Ukraine, thus, immediate appropriate actions are required. Scientific novelty. It is essential to bring Ukrainian legislation into conformity with the constitutional principles of equality and European standards; develop appropriate and effective anti-discrimination norms and sanctions for violating gender legislation; introduce special measures to ensure gender parity in decision-making, in all public offices; conduct special information campaigns; develop and institutionalize gender studies and gender education at all stages; get more public control over the implementation of international commitments and principles of equal rights and opportunities for women and men. Conclusion . Appropriate mechanisms for overcoming gender stereotypes will contribute to integration of equal rights’ principle and opportunities. Human resources policies require systematic approach to gender analysis and integration in order to address gender issues in program development. In the 21 st century issues of gender equity should be a priority at all levels.

Power and Gender: Policy Frames on Gender Inequality in Politics in the Netherlands and Spain

This article studies a potential barrier for women in political decision‐making: the way in which policy documents frame the concept of power. Our study covers a selection of Dutch and Spanish policy documents on the issue of women in political decision‐making. Drawing on Steven Lukes, Hannah Arendt, and Michel Foucault, we examine what policy actors say about the concept of power and we analyze existing power mechanisms in the text, even when the concept of power or the power relations between the sexes is not explicitly discussed. Policy documents do not really discuss power, but yet they (implicitly) accept and reproduce existing power relations between the sexes. This lack of problematization of existing power relations might present an important discursive barrier for women to positions of decision‐making.

Concepts of citizenship underlying EU gender equality policies

This article assesses the framing of gender equality in the EU political discourse from 1995 to 2005 and the conceptualisations of citizenship that emerge from it. To assess the extent to which EU gender equality policies meet the aspirations of the concept of a gender equal citizenship, it develops an analysis of how different feminist approaches to citizenship are related to concepts of rights and responsibilities in EU gender equality policies. The frame analysis of a selection of EU policy documents in the areas of family policies, domestic violence, and gender inequality in politics reflects different configurations of the relation between feminist conceptualisations of citizenship and citizens' distribution of rights and responsibilities. Findings show that both gender-neutral and gender-differentiated conceptualisations of citizenship are present in EU policy documents, while a gender-pluralist approach tends to be absent. They also reveal that, while both men and women are formally treated as right-holders, women are framed as mainly responsible for eradicating the barriers to an equal enjoyment of citizenship rights. Moreover, men and women are constructed as different citizens. The article concludes that EU formal definitions of citizenship based on the concept of equality, while promoting legal gender equality and acknowledging the existence of gender obstacles to the enjoyment of an equal citizenship for women, are not by definition translated into policy initiatives transformative of traditional gender roles. In this respect they could hamper the achievement of a gender equal citizenship in the European Union.

Gender Inequality in Politics

This article explores how the issue of ‘gender inequality in politics’ is framed in Spain and in the European Union (EU), asking to what extent policy discourses on the issue address gender bias in political institutions. Drawing on research carried out within the European project MAGEEQ, it discusses how the problem and solution to gender inequality in politics are framed in the two cases, to what extent policy discourses are gendered, which actors have a voice in the debates, and who are deemed to be the ‘problem holders’ and target groups of the measures taken in response. The comparison between Spain and the EU, which is based mainly on the analysis of official policy documents, shows that policy frames on gender inequality in politics present a similar pattern in the two cases, and that they address inequality but not always in the most gender-sensitive and consistent ways.

Framing Gender Equality in the European Union Political Discourse

In the last decade, the European Union (EU) approach to gender equality has broadened to new concepts, such as gender mainstreaming, and new issues, such as “family policies”, “domestic violence”, and “gender inequality in politics”. However, the frame analysis of policy documents in these new areas shows, first, that each issue has developed its own particular features, and, secondly, that the broadening of the EU-political discourse on gender equality has not led to a deeper framing of the issues in terms of gender equality. The lack of EU competence in these areas, the status of the policy documents, and differences in the actors having a voice and being referred to in the documents are proposed as possible explanations for its framing.

Gender Mainstreaming in the EU

This article explores the extent to which a feminist reading of gender mainstreaming is incorporated in the EU political discourse by analysing how family policy and gender inequality in politics are framed in EU policy documents. Gender mainstreaming is treated as an open signifier that can be filled with both feminist and non-feminist content. The article provides a set of criteria to assess whether a feminist reading of gender mainstreaming has been adopted. The frame analysis of EU documents on family policy and gender inequality in politics reveals but a partial adoption of a feminist understanding of gender mainstreaming and only in the area of gender inequality in politics.

Political and Economic Gender Inequalities in Capitalist Polyarchies*

ABSTRACTThis paper develops two indicators of gender inequality: for political gender inequality, percent female members in the legislature; for economic gender inequality, male/female wage ratios. Nineteen capitalist polyarchies are compared with respect to these indicators. The comparison reveals substantial cross‐national differences in politico‐economic gender inequality. Possible reasons for the observed cross‐national differences in politico‐economic gender inequality are discussed, and the suggested explanatory variables are evaluated through multiple regression analysis. The findings suggest an answer to the question of why capitalist polyarchies differ in the extent of their politico‐economic gender inequalities. The answer consists of an assertion of a spill‐over from high female labour market participation to relatively gender‐neutral political and economic indicators. Within the economic sphere the spill‐over is facilitated by the strength of socialist parties. In politics, however, political institutions interfere with the asserted spill‐over. Electoral systems constitute different institutional barriers: as a consequence of their different modes of operation, female access to the legislatures becomes efficiently blocked in plurality systems, whereas proportional representation allows the spill‐over to occur.