Satomi
Sugiyama
GWS220W-02
Professor
Adriane Brown
4/22/2012
Paper
2 – Global Issues: Women in Politics
Women in Politics
In 2007, Hillary
Rodham Clinton was a candidate for the presidential election. The news was
received a lot of attention around the world. She lost to Barack Obama;
however, I was so excited to imagine that she could have become the president of the United States, which has
a great influence in the world. I
believed that women’s representation in politics would have been more active over
the world. Not only in politics but in many other fields, women’s participation
would have increased. There are many fields such as science, and business, where
activists to be reported by media are often males. Politics in each country is
the same as those fields. As you may feel so, politics in each country is still
occupied by male largely. However, it has been slightly changing only-male into
both-gender. I would like to explore participation of women in politics and
public affairs and reasons behind current situation. Though my research, I
realized that women’s political representation can increase as long as they get
enough support.
Women’s
representation in government is different in each country. I agree with the
statement of Joni Seager, the author of The
Penguin Atlas of Women in the World, “nowhere do women have equal
representation with men in government; in only a very few countries do women
represent 25 percent or more of elected legislators (Seager 96).” The book
shows that it is women accounted for only seventeen percent of politicians
worldwide in 2007 (Seager 96). This
percentage indicates that women’s representation in the world is now seen in
many countries even though the ratio of women versus men is relatively low. There
must be some reasons why women are allowed to join politics, but there are not
so many female politicians.
Though the women’s
representation is low as of today, a few countries have had the president or
the prime minister in their history of twentieth to twentieth first centuries. It
was Sirmavo Bandaranaike of Stri Lanka who became the very first female prime
minister in the world in 1960 (Squidoo).
Furthermore, “Some countries, such as the
Philippines, New Zealand and Ireland, have already elected women leaders two or
more (Squidoo).” Also, there are some countries where elected “more than
one woman to serve as head of state (Squkdoo).”
On the other hand,
there are some countries today where women are not legally allowed to represent
in politics: Kyrgystan, Oman, and Saudi Arabia (Seager 97). One of the specific
similarities among those three countries is that their major religion is Islam.
It is controversial to say whether or not Islam supports women’s status in
politics according to the bible Qur’an.
For example, some researchers state that there are some statements to support Islamic
gender equality:
“O mankind! Fear your Lord Who (initiated) your creation
from a single soul, then from it created its mate, and from these two spread
(the creation of) countless men and women.” (al-Qur’an, 4:1)
This Verse clearly expounds that man or woman are created
from a single entity and are basically equal genders. As a gender, one is not
superior to the other.
“And according to usage, women too have rights over men
similar to the rights of men over women.” (al-Qur’an, 2:228)
This Verse denotes that rights enjoyed by
men are the duties of the women and the duties of men are the rights of women.
This implies a similitude between both the genders. There is no right conferred
on man that woman may be deprived of because she is a woman (Minhaj-ul-Quran
International).
However, it clearly mentions Islamic
view about gender inequality in Quran Minhaj-ul-Quran International). This is
one of the gender inequalities, “Men, however, have an
advantage over them. (al-Qur’an, 2:228)” and “Men are guardians and managers over women al-Qur’an,
4:34).” (Minhaj-ul-Quran International).
Researchers who support gender equality in Islamic societies often say that
gender inequality in Islamic countries is not based on faith (Minhaj-ul-Quran
International), but there is a problem because of Islamic strict regulations
against women. No women’s representation in politics is the result of people’s
STRONG followings of the Qur’an, although
there are many other Islamic countries, such as some North African countries,
which allow women to represent in politics. Especially Saudi Arabia is the
country where there is the Islamic holy place, Mecca, and Saudi Arabia is
famous for the most religious among Muslims.
Without female
opinions, there are some negative affects on the government. According to the
survey by Inter-Parliamentary Union in 2008, over
ninety percent of respondents strongly agree that female politicians can
influence with a way of understanding, a view of points, and talent, which are different from male (Inter-Parliamentary
Union). In addition, female politicians are so
important roles to improve a society where there are not only males but also
females, children, and senior citizens. For example, female politicians
tend to be responsible for three fields. First, it is social issues such as
childcare, equal wages, child-rearing leave, and annuities. Second, it is
biological issues such as reproductive rights. Third, it is developmental issues such as human development and poverty. Gender-free society cannot be achieved only by
male politicians’ points of views.
Current gender representation
in politics is not truly reflecting all people because male politicians tend
not to understand what women’s needs are. Government, no matter what country,
should be reflected by the voice of public opinion. There are some possible ways
to increase women’s representation in politics. There
are two main points which helped increase women’s representation in Europe. First,
political system is one of the important factors for women to decide to run for,
but women have some difficulties adopting.
Historically, political systems were established by men and for men. The women’s
political participation in Europe are comparatively higher than Asian and
Arabian countries (Seager 96). How did it happen? In fact, many countries with
high female ratio in politics adopted quarter systems sooner than others
(Inter-Parliamentary Union 2). The quarter systems make a certain number of female
politicians supported by a political party compulsory. If a woman get supports
from a political party, it is much easier to get a seat financially and
politically. Second, child-care environment of female politicians should be
formed. Generally wives take responsibility for a household such as childcare
and house work more than husbands is. If it is hard for women to raise their
children, the women easily give up representing in politics because raising a child
is one of the most important tasks for women.
Here is an example
of Representative Hillevi Engstrom who succeeded in increasing the number of
female representatives in Sweden, which had been the country with the highest women’s
representation among the world until Rwanda became the best. Engstrom is a
member of the Swedish Riskbag and put a lot of effort for female
representatives:
She noted that family-friendly policies
set an important example in society as they signal that the national parliament
is inclusive of women and parents of young children. Sweden […] are also
eligible to receive time-off to care for sick children under the same
conditions as the regular workforce. Moreover, a 2003 discussion document
entitled, A gender-equal
working environment in the Swedish Parliament, and subsequent interviews with
parliamentarians led to Sweden adopting a report, 15 proposals for gender equality in
the Riksdag, which had the
objective of further promoting gender equality in the Swedish Parliament.
Responsibility for implementing this report was given to the Secretary-General
of the Riksdag (Canadian Grop Inter-Parliamentary Union).
This fact points out that more male
representative should gain knowledge and responsibilities about gender. Engstrom
also suggests that even Sweden as a develop country of gender-free need still
more serious attempts were made to improve things(Canadian Grop Inter-Parliamentary Union).
Over all, increasing
the number of women as legislators is not enough for gender-free politics to
achieve “Gender Sensitive Parliaments (Inter-Parliamentary Union).” It is also
important that women in legislators have influence on
political decision makings. Politics is an essential and critical part
of our lives, and it can hurt us easily as is clear. There is a famous and popular
political phrase by Abraham Lincoln, “government of the people by the people
for the people.” Lincoln did not say it especially for gender equality. But, I believe
that this is the time to remember the phrase to achieve a real gender-free
politics.
Work Cited
Inter-Parliamentary Union. Equality in Politics: A Survey
of Women and Men in Parlimanets: An Overview of Key Findings. 2009. 1 April
2012.
<http://www.ipu.org/PDF/publications/equality08-overview-e.pdf>
Inter-Parliamentary Union. Gender-Sensitive Parliament.
Inter-Parliamentary Union. 2011. 1
April 2012. < http://www.ipu.org/pdf/publications/gsp11-e.pdf
>
Inter-Parliamentary Union. Women in Parliament in 2009.
2009. 1 April 2012.
Minhaj-ul-Quran International. Gender Equality and Islam.
8 March 2011. 30 March 2012.
Canadian Grop Inter-Parliamentary Union. Report of the
Canadian Parliamentary Delegation to the Fourth Conference for Members of Parliamentary
Committees on the Status of Women and Other Committees Dealing with Gender
Equality. 30 March 2012.
Seager, Joni. The Penguin Atlas of Women in the World 4th
ed. London: Penguin Group, 2009.
Squidoo. Women Presidents and Prime Ministers. 2007. 1
April 2012.
