Political Leadership Positions Research Articles

Women and the Politics of Incivility and Discrimination: Introduction

Women and the Politics of Incivility and Discrimination: Introduction

Single Women Involved in Entrepreneurship Negatively Affected by Gender and Marital Status as Entrepreneurs

Issues to do with gender imbalances and inequality of women in general and single women in particular in the political arena and entrepreneurship are nowadays a burning issue in all the countries worldwide. This is a major aspect of modern democratic governance such that low levels of female participation in politics are a major concern worldwide. The steps were taken by the United Nations Convention on stopping all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and other international organizations have laid the concrete basis for the emergence of women’s participation in politics and entrepreneurship. In Lusaka, Zambia, women’s political participation is not proportional to the 50% of the country’s population which women represent, thereby not translating into equal representation in political leadership positions. The study employed questionnaires to collect data. The findings demonstrate that there exists a significant gender gap in the political participation of women in all the wards in the Lusaka district and that factors affecting their effective participation were social, economic, political, cultural, and religious-based. The study, therefore, recommended the change of perception of the people, equal representation in governance, support from everyone, and also stopping of discriminatory practices to ensure the equal and full participation of women.

Religion, Gender, and Representation in American Politics

ABSTRACTSeveral recent analyses have examined the effects of religious beliefs, belonging, and behaviors on the representation of women in American politics. Taken collectively, these studies present an interesting puzzle. Specifically, they demonstrate that religious adherents express attitudes that are less supportive of women in positions of political leadership and that at every stage of the process, from primary candidacy to general-election victory, women are less likely to run and win in districts with greater numbers of religious adherents. However, this does not appear to be the result of even the most devout voters’ unwillingness to support women candidates in general elections. This body of work, therefore, suggests that the effect of religion on the representation of women manifests at earlier stages of the process, including individual vote choice in primary elections, party and elite recruitment, and potential candidates’ strategic entry decisions.

Examining factors affecting the failure of Khofifah Indar Parawansa in East Java gubernatorial elections

Statistics consistently show that women in executive political leadership positions are much lower than men at a global level. Institutional, socio-economic, and socio-cultural factors influence this condition. Some studies also identified that media considered as an essential factor for women’s involvement in politics. This paper examines factors contributing to the failure of Khofifah Indar Parawansa in East Java gubernatorial elections and whether or not gender is a matter in affecting the failure. This research analyzed kompas.com on how media reports the process of exploring this issue, how it frames the factors and the result of the 2008 and 2013. Seventy-nine news reports from online newspapers, 27 from the 2008 election and 52 from the 2013 election, were analyzed. Researchers traced these articles using thematic textual analysis to identify factors inhibiting Khofifah’s participation in the elections. The media reported that political, socio-economic, and socio-cultural aspects inhibited her success in the elections. Interestingly, the media emphasizes the political aspect as the most significant factor in her failures. It implies that the media provides balanced and fair information on female candidates.

Women’s Political Participation and Leadership in India: Examining the Challenges

Women's political participation regarded as an essential element in all forms of development; however, gender equality policies of India remain under scrutiny. After independence in 1947, there have been many initiatives to increase the political representation of women by decentralization of power in various local self-government institutions of India. The act of Panchayati Raj Institutions has increased the engagement of marginalized segments of society, including women, into the decision-making role in political institutions. Hence, this study is trying to explore the political leadership of women in Local Self Government institutions. Through the use of qualitative methods such as document analysis of the Panchayati Raj Institutions amendment act and the expert interviews with elected women representatives in one district of Kerala state, the paper seeks to identify the challenges of women in political leadership positions in India, the largest democratic nation. Findings from the study reveal that there is considerable progress in women’s equality in the leadership role; however, there are certain crucial obstacles still exist for women to be active in the political realm.

Introduction

Introduction

Malay Women Leaders in Malaysia: The Unthinkable?

Abstract This article examines the position of the Malay religious elite towards the idea of women as leaders. Based on an analysis of the writings and sermons of a sample of the religious elite, the article concludes that they continue to be of the view that gender roles in modern society are ‘fixed’, ‘divine’, and ‘unquestionable’. By exploring Mohammed Arkoun’s concept of the ‘unthinkable’, I argue that the notion that women are unfit for top political leadership positions, by virtue of their gender, results from a parochial attitude towards traditions relating to women’s role in society and from a general failure to re-evaluate traditions in the light of the modern-day context. By traditions here, I refer not only to the hadiths (recorded sayings of the Prophet Mohammad), but also compilations of Qurʾanic exegesis (tafsīr) and juristic opinions (fatāwā, s. fatwa) passed down from one generation to another in the last 1,400 years of Islamic history. The article also explores how the religious elite’s views of gender equality might be reformed—it suggests that they need to be challenged with alternative discourses in order to transform their attitude towards religious sources from one that is unquestioning to one that is more questioning.

The Influence of Female Lead Characters in Political TV Shows: Links to Political Engagement

This study examined political television dramas with lead female characters, proposing a model that links viewing of these shows with political engagement. A survey revealed that regular viewers of Madam Secretary, The Good Wife, or Scandal reported feeling transported by these programs’ narratives and parasocial relationships with the main characters (i.e., women in positions of political leadership). These responses were also related to increases in political interest and self-efficacy, with interest predicting real-world political participation. The findings illustrate that these political dramas have prosocial implications, including the non-stereotypical representation of women as well as increased political engagement among viewers.

ДАНІЕЛ БЕЛЛ ПРО «ПЛИННІСТЬ» ВЛАДИ В ЕПОХУ ПОСТІНДУСТРІАЛІЗМУ

The article analyze the position of one of the most respected researchers of post-industrialism, Daniel Bell, on the impact of new information technologies on “politics-power” relations. The following two features of the influence of information and knowledge on the political sphere of public life are clarified: “Situs as Political Units» and «Rightful Meritocracy.” According to D. Bell, there are three analyzed current models of power: 1) the previous model of power, which is based on property, and besides it is inherited; 2) a model of government, the basis of which is knowledge acquired through education; and 3) a model of power, the source of which is a political office obtained through an organizational apparatus. The concept of the rightful meritocracy of D. Bell was analyzed, it’s meaning in the idea that the power belong to the most gifted. He believed that a capitalist society іs gradually transforming into a society in which gifted people will be promoted to senior positions, including political. He defined a certain “merit formula”: “Intelligence + Achievements = Merit”. D. Bell argued, that people with such merits should take up leadership positions in politics, business, science and other activities. In post-industrial society, the principle of “achievement” is relevant, there is a thought, that power is achieved through the personal virtues of the people, their high level of education and skills. In such society, there are almost no senior positions available to people without qualifications. In conclusion, we can say that the politician, from the point of view of D. Bell, is a highly skilled specialist which have the necessary management skills. Post-industrial society implies the emergence of a new intellectual class, whose representatives can at political level act as consultants, experts or technocrats.

ДАНІЕЛ БЕЛЛ ПРО «ПЛИННІСТЬ» ВЛАДИ В ЕПОХУ ПОСТІНДУСТРІАЛІЗМУ

The article analyze the position of one of the most respected researchers of post-industrialism, Daniel Bell, on the impact of new information technologies on “politics-power” relations. The following two features of the influence of information and knowledge on the political sphere of public life are clarified: “Situs as Political Units» and «Rightful Meritocracy.” According to D. Bell, there are three analyzed current models of power: 1) the previous model of power, which is based on property, and besides it is inherited; 2) a model of government, the basis of which is knowledge acquired through education; and 3) a model of power, the source of which is a political office obtained through an organizational apparatus. The concept of the rightful meritocracy of D. Bell was analyzed, it’s meaning in the idea that the power belong to the most gifted. He believed that a capitalist society іs gradually transforming into a society in which gifted people will be promoted to senior positions, including political. He defined a certain “merit formula”: “Intelligence + Achievements = Merit”. D. Bell argued, that people with such merits should take up leadership positions in politics, business, science and other activities. In post-industrial society, the principle of “achievement” is relevant, there is a thought, that power is achieved through the personal virtues of the people, their high level of education and skills. In such society, there are almost no senior positions available to people without qualifications. In conclusion, we can say that the politician, from the point of view of D. Bell, is a highly skilled specialist which have the necessary management skills. Post-industrial society implies the emergence of a new intellectual class, whose representatives can at political level act as consultants, experts or technocrats.

Political process explanations of the rise of women representation in leadership positions in national politics : the case of South Africa - research

Political process explanations of the rise of women representation in leadership positions in national politics : the case of South Africa - research

Women Rule: Gendered Leadership and State Supreme Court Chief Justice Selection

ABSTRACTWhile women are underrepresented in many political institutions and leadership positions, nearly half of state supreme court chief justices are women. Is there something about the role of state supreme court justice that facilitates the recruitment of women to this important political position? We examine whether the selection of a woman chief is driven by the court’s institutional need for women’s leadership style or simply the supply of qualified justices. We find that ideological diversity drives demand for a woman chief. A supply of experienced women justices also has a significant impact on likelihood of selection.

The Commonwealth, Gender and Peacekeeping

Reflecting on the strategic commitment outlined in the Plan of Action for Gender Equality (2005–2015) and the priority issues of the Commonwealth Women’s Forum, this article assesses the extent to which the Commonwealth as an institution is supporting troop- and police-contributing member states in addressing the gender imbalance in peacekeeping operations. Drawing on desk-based research, interviews with international policymakers and a statistical analysis of the International Peace Institute Peacekeeping Database, the article first outlines the Commonwealth’s gender and security policy perspective before examining datasets to determine the success of Commonwealth member states in integrating women into uniformed peacekeeping contingents between 2009 and 2015. The article observes that, in spite of a renewed optimism and drive to propel women into leadership positions in politics, the judiciary, public bodies and private companies, security-sector reform and the implementation of pillar one of the UN Security Council Resolution 1325 are notably absent from the Commonwealth’s gender agenda. It is argued that this policy gap suggests that national and international security architecture is regarded as an accepted domain of male privilege. A lack of political will among Commonwealth heads of government to mainstream gender equality and facilitate structural transformation of national security organs and a chronically under resourced Commonwealth Secretariat limit the influence of the institution to that of arms-length promoter of international norms on women, peace and security.

Protesting gender discrimination from within: women’s political representation on behalf of Islamic parties

In recent decades, Islamic political movements, and their subsequent political parties, have been increasingly recruiting and nominating women to high-level decision-making positions despite the fact that the ideology they espouse often acts to dissuade women from assuming positions of political leadership. My ethnographic research on religious women’s activism in Iran and Turkey helps explain this unexpected trend by shedding light onto the role of Islamic party women in challenging the gender discriminatory attitudes and behaviours of their male party leaders. In particular, I highlight the role that a number of high-ranking Islamic party women with close ties to the ruling elites played in pressuring their male party leaders to address women’s political underrepresentation in formal politics. Women’s close ties to the ruling elites consisted of formal ties with key Islamic leaders that evolved thanks to women’s long-term devotion to the Islamic movement or learning at Islamic seminaries. I demonstrate that such close ties to the leaders, as well as the presence of a public discourse in favour of women’s increased access to politics, enabled influential Islamic women to leverage a form of ‘internal criticism’ as an important strategy to enhance women’s political rights and status from within the Islamic movements.

Educational Attainment, Citizenship, and Black American Women in Elected and Appointed National Leadership Positions

This article examines the issue of American citizenship and how it is related to Black Americans, especially from the perspectives of educational attainment and national political leadership positions (focusing on the U.S. Senate, office of governor, and the U.S. Supreme Court). The article presents seven interrelated conceptual or theoretical perspectives of American citizenship (Three Citizenships; Gender; Equality; Race; Belonging; Military Service; and Protestant Christianity), and where Black Americans (especially Black women) fit in them. The article claims that while Black American women have made substantial progress in college degree attainment, they have done so at a very high financial cost. The article claims that compared with other groups in the society, the gains in educational attainment made by Black American women have not resulted in them being elected or selected to these national leadership positions. Among the factors presented for this exclusion of Black women are: lack of strong support from Black American male leaders and institutional support; ambition; first occupy public office within the states of the Union; they must become moderate politicians; perception that Black women have more privileges in the society than Black men and other groups; and negative media portrayal of Black female candidates. The article claims that despite being one of the oldest and most native groups in the United States, with over nine out of every 10 of them being native-born citizens, Black American women in particular tend to have the characteristics of non-citizens.

The Politics of Assassination in Democratic Nigerian Society: An Appraisal of Ahmed Yerima's Play, The Angel

As an effective medium of communication, playwrights use drama as a viable tool for socio-political commentaries. This paper uses Ahmed Yerima's play, The Angel, to critically x-ray the precarious nature of the political climate in Nigeria vis-a-vis the affirmation of the widely held view that in the enterprise of politics, there are neither permanent friends nor enemies but only permanent interests. Against the backdrop of politics, in broad ramifications, being dubbed a 'dirty game,' the paper explores the various degrees of sordid and heinous acts that politicians unscrupulously indulge in to outwit rivals perceived as, somewhat, formidable encumbrances. These include conspiracy, bribery, betrayal, blackmail, kidnap, and at its most political assassination amongst other forms of political violence which are all indices of threat to Nigeria's democracy and national development. The paper concludes that although politics is a sine qua non to political leadership positions in the country, it does not necessarily have to be a do or die affair or a vicious battleground for wanton bloodshed. This, therefore, can be possible and become a reality if and only when political actors truly embrace politics that is premised on ethics and integrity, and having utmost regard for human life and for the people they want to lead.

The ‘girls’: women press photographers and the representation of women in Australian newspapers

In 1975, Fairfax News commemorated International Women’s Year by appointing Lorrie Graham as its first female cadet photographer. Women only joined the photographic staff of newspapers in significant numbers from the 1980s and were more likely to be employed on regional newspapers than the metropolitan dailies. This article draws on interviews with male and female press photographers collected for the National Library of Australia’s oral history programme. It provides an overview of the history of women press photographers in Australia, situating their working lives within an overtly masculine newspaper culture where gender inequity was entrenched. It also examines the gendered and evolving photographic representations of women in the Australian press, including those of women in positions of social and political leadership. Although women press photographers have achieved greater recognition in the 2000s, the transformation of the media industry has impacted the working practices and employment of press photographers.

Islamic Women's Groups and the Quest for Political Representation in Turkey and Iran

This article presents Islamic women's framing processes in their campaigns to address women's political underrepresentation in Iran and Turkey. It argues that while Turkish women justify their claims through international human rights discourses, Iranian women frame their demands in religious terms to find resonance with political elites. Women's strategic framing processes demonstrate the extent to which women's demands for equal representation are shaped by the political and discursive opportunity structures that arise out of their secular or theocratic contexts.In many Muslim-majority countries, Islamic movements and parties tend to negatively view women's access to political leadership positions.1 The dominant gender discourse of these movements, which is often based on patriarchal interpretations of religious texts, views women's proper place to be within the domestic sphere as mothers and wives, and largely denies women an active presence in the public sphere, including in political decision-making. Scholarly analysis of women's activities and involvement in political parties that arise out of Islamic political movements has persuasively argued that despite the high level of women's political participation on behalf of such parties, women tend to have low levels of political representation.2 For instance, a number of scholars have pointed to the fact that many Islamic political parties have mobilized and politicized women to serve merely as campaigners and grassroots organizers to help bring the party to power, or have used women's bodies and dress as public markers of their identity claims. But once in power, the male elites of such parties have often denied women any real power or influence in formal politics.3 Although this kind of discrimination is not exclusive to religious movements and parties, it is often assumed that religiously motivated parties are more detrimental to women's political representation than are their secular counterparts. The works of scholars such as Ronald Inglehart and Pippa Norris and Steven Fish fall within this line of argumentation by emphasizing religious and cultural barriers, namely Islam and patriarchal attitudes, as the primary reasons for women's limited access to positions of political authority.4A surprising recent trend that challenges the current literature's overwhelming emphasis on the religious/cultural obstacles that keep women out of political decisionmaking is the modest increases in the percentage of women in political leadership on behalf of some religious political parties in various Muslim-majority countries. For instance, Clark and Schwedler have observed that in Yemen and Jordan the percentage of women assuming political office has modestly increased in the wake of and forces' rise to power.5 This trend is also present in Turkey and Iran, the two case studies of this research. Regardless of Turkey's secular or Iran's theocratic political frameworks, women's access to political leadership positions increased under the watch of and religious forces, and (unexpectedly) not under liberalreformist or secular parties. In Turkey, the recent notable increases in the percentage of female parliamentarians (currently at its highest ever at 17.5%) coincides with the 2002 rise to power of the Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkinma Partisi, henceforth AKP, but often called the AK Party by supporters). The AKP was founded in 2001 by members of defunct Turkish parties (Refah, the Welfare Party; and Fazilet, the Virtue Party). Since its landslide victory in 2002, the AKP, which identifies itself as a conservative democratic rather than Islamist party, has steadily increased its percentage of popular votes in general elections, although it significantly underperformed in the June 2015 general elections and lost its parliamentary majority.6 Due to the AKP's official support of a secular system in which public displays of religion have a place, I identify this party as pro-religious. …

Patriarchy and Women’s Political Leadership Position in Nigeria: Issues, Challenges and Prospects

Women worldwide, face discrimination, subordination, exploitation and relegation in several spheres of life. It has been observed that this discrimination against women is more pronounced in the developing African countries of the world. In Nigeria, womanhood is reduced to mere tool in the hands of men and seen as only being relevant in the kitchen. This has brought about tremendous misrepresentation of women right at the level of the family down to the circular society. Nigeria is patriarchal in nature and this is a major feature of a traditional society. Patriarchy is a broad network or system of hierarchical organization that cuts across political, economic, social etc, under which the overwhelming number of upper positions in society are controlled and dominated by men. In the modern world where women go ahead by their merit, patriarchy creates obstacles for women to go forward in the society. It has been adjudged that women constitute about half of the population of Nigerian, yet there is inherently a pronounced level of under representation of women in political leadership positions when compared with their male counterparts. This paper attempts to x-ray the conceptual clarification of patriarchy, origin of patriarchy, theoretical underpin, causes for the discrimination of women in Nigeria and as well proffer practical solutions to this situation. This paper therefore, argues that if Nigeria and the world in general are to benefit from women’s full potential, the constant dilemma and stringent constraint on women must be removed.

Challenges to Women Active Participation in Politics in Nigeria

Poor participation of women in politics and governance has been a major concern at global level. In Nigeria, women participation in politics is not proportionate to the 50% of the nation's population which they represent and has not translated into equal representation in political leadership positions. The global issue of goal 3 (to promote gender equality and empower women) of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and other international clarion calls for bridging the gap created by long-term discriminations against women and making women visible in politics made Nigeria to recognize women in the political sphere, and include them in both appointive and elective positions. Yet, there persists poor participation of women in politics and the number of women in political positions in Nigeria is growing at a slow rate despite efforts to change such trend. Based on secondary sources of information, this paper, examined the challenges Nigerian women still face in active participation in politics such as discriminatory socio-cultural and religious practices; lack of finance; under-representation of women in governance; unhealthy political environment; political party discrimination; wrong perception of women in politics; lack of family, fellow women and media support; indigenization of women political aspirants; among others. This paper recommended measures to guarantee women active participation in politics in Nigeria such as review of discriminatory practices; economic empowerment; support from family, fellow women and media; equal representation in governance; healthy political environment; proper perception of women in politics, among others.