Status of Woman in Political Life - Essay Example

Winning the vote and women’s status in political life Background In the early history of Britain, women were not given the rights to participate in the voting process until in the year 1832 when the reform act was passed. During the year 1835, municipal corporations act was passed that gave women various opportunities to actively participate in politics (Kent, 1999). Discrimination against women was on the rise not only in politics but also in the working places. Most of the top jobs and management positions were held by the men especially in the agricultural farms and other industries. This therefore reflected the wages that were paid to the women and men had big differences. It is because of these discriminations that led to the establishment of women movements to push for their rights and betterment of their lives with regard to the political democracy. The movement for women suffrage played a vital role in the process that led to women winning the vote and increased women representatives in political positions. This process was very important in the history of Britain since it made a turning point in the political arena as it resulted into women being given equal opportunities in political positions and increased diversity of representation. However, this development has not fully transformed the lives of women with regard to politics and there are still certain levels of suppression against women. This includes discriminations and inequality in works, low wages, gender roles discrimination and lack of equal representation in political positions among other inequalities. The movement for women’s Suffrage as mentioned earlier was very instrumental in this process. It played an important role in the mobilization of women from different parts of the nation as well as different women from low, middle and high class. This movement can be described as the vehicle that was used by the women in their achievement of political democracy and equal opportunities (Lovenduski, 1986). It organized protests across the nation in favor of the rights of women to vote. The efforts of Edwardian ladies during their protests in which they participated in chaotic protests that demanded for the rights of women to vote were very significant in the Britain. Cotton workers especially those from the Lancashire mainly campaigned for the women’s suffrage movement in the farms, mills as well as within the factories in England. As stated by Ford (1997), women’s suffrage movement was one of the biggest women movements in Britain. However, this movement together with others had their own challenges. During the initial stages of the movement, the major participants were the middle class women together with the other women who worked in the increasing capitalist class. Most of these women were actually involve in the radical campaign for the abolition of slavery, the problems with the Corn Laws, the ruling ideologies among many other ideas that they felt were discriminatory against the women. The ruling ideology during this time provided a clear difference between the men and women in which the men were given the clear control over the women. The married women had to seek directions from their husbands even in political issues that affected their lives and hence remained a property of their husbands. The movement for women’s suffrage was also concerned about the divorce laws that never gave them the opportunity to take control of their lives, property, earnings as well as higher education and advancement in career and professional opportunities. These efforts resulted into women winning some of the rights after the end of that century. Women were given the rights to participate in the voting in the local elections. However, these were restricted to their qualifications and with regard to the property rights. As a result, not all the women participated in the elections but only few who met the qualifications mentioned above. This means that the right to vote was still not open to all women. Moreover they could not vote at the parliamentary level though they had won the votes for the local councils, as well as the institution boards and other boards running governmental agencies. It is also important to note that very few men had the voting rights for men and hence it was difficult to vote for men if they did not meet the minimum qualifications. However, the reform act of the year 1884 made significant changes to the voting process and hence the voting rights were widened to include most working class men though it was still based on the qualification of property ownership (Ford, 1997). However the changes that took place during the year 1880s were very important in the history of Britain. During this time, the political as well as the landscape of the nation changed dramatically with many rights being accorded to the women. This time saw several women unskilled and skilled women organized into the working groups and relationships and hence increased their bargaining power for more rights in politics (Baker, 1978). The independent working class representations were very important since the grievances of the women were well represented by the leaders in their unions and organizations. For example the formation of the independent labor party resulted into several women being brought closer to leadership as well as other political activities. The women organizations at the work places were very important since they pushed for the improvements in the pay, fought against the sweat shop as well as the right to organization. While they pushed for their joint demands and the problems that they faced, the women were much focused and raised several issues which included the exploitation of the workers in terms of low wages and the rights to vote. Some of the instrumental figures who included the women in the working such as Selina Cooper were very categorical on the rights to vote for the women of her class. In her statement, she argued that the rights to vote in the parliamentary elections was not meant to make them boast that they are equal to men but they wanted to use these rights just like the men are using these voting rights. She also insisted that it is the right time for women to be accorded their rights in the ballot since they also demanded a political freedom in England and hence bring the required reforms in the nation (Coppock, 1995). These movements later were joined by the unskilled workers and other minorities leading to the presentation of over twenty five thousand signatures that demanded for the political freedom of women in Britain. As a result, the women were fully accorded right to vote after long time struggle with strikes and protests from different parts of the nation. It was therefore the time for the women to start exercising their rights to vote. Impacts of Winning the Vote Since the women won the right to vote in Britain, there are several diverse changes that have taken place in their lives. Unlike in the past, women constitute half the workforce in many parts of the Britain. This has resulted from the demands of equality in all aspects of activities and in the representation. In this respect, the women have the best opportunity of representing their ideas in a more and better way. They also have the opportunity to increase their representation in the future and hence play an important task in the social, political and the industrial movements than they did before. In this context, they are therefore placed at the best position to make important decisions and hence their needs and demands are well represented at the national level. The 1918 passing of the right of women to vote was a turning point in the history of Britain. There was increased number of women in the political process and hence it was important for those individuals in the political arena to cope with the changes (Coppock, 1995). The new labor’s elections were the beginning of what was described as political freedom for women. This particular election resulted into several women getting the parliamentary seats. Harriet Harman declared it a victory because it saw several women winning the elections which were a break to the stereotype on gender discrimination in the nation. This has resulted into celebrations in the labor party as well as among the feminists. This was meant to put the women at a competitive strategic place so that they would continuously vote and take leadership positions just like men. The winning of the vote right in parliamentary elections also meant that women had the best opportunity in improving their careers which is necessary for leadership and representation of the people. As women increased their numbers in parliament, they influenced key policies that better catered for their rights and demands in parliament than before and hence it easier for them to push for their agenda. Those policies that were meant to suppress women with regard to freedom of participation in political contexts had been solved and hence women in Britain had equal opportunities just like their fellow men to actively participate in politics. According to Robert (2001), the winning of vote by women was to be very instrumental in their push for better working conditions, less discrimination, divorce laws, equality, and free and fair political processes. According to Wingerden (2011), these were just the expectations of the women in the nineteenth century but everything has not been as per the expectations. He also observed that while the women mps in the labor party celebrated their victory, this victory has not resulted into a significant change in the political life of women. This is because the collective struggle for the women through several movements is not possible today. As observed by Wingerden (2011), the spirit of unity among the women that existed before has faded away and what remains is the fight by individual women for their own benefits but not for the benefits of the women category as a whole. As observed by Clapson (2009), “Instead, the fight for womens rights is reduced to an individualized struggle for self-improvement…Most of the legal obstacles to womens equality, like not having the vote, have now been removed, they claim.” It is therefore important to realize that the winning of the vote only was not enough for women since it did not solve all their problems politically but helped them gain important positions that would be used to change their political life. However, the individuals in these positions have lost focus and hence are concentrating on those policies and ideologies that would benefit them but not the women as a whole. According to Holloway (2005), the struggle for the vote was not just a historic event but women had gained important legal rights that have reinstated their expectations and confidence in politics. However, it is observed that women are still facing deeply embedded discriminations which have seen several women face different and diverse cases of prejudice. For example, the increasing gap between the wages that are pad to men and those that are paid to the women is not desirable. Even though this is an international problem, the issue in Britain is different. The passing of the legislations that required that the individuals should employ based on equality of gender has not been adhered to. There is increased discrimination in the government appointees (Krikos, 2004). Other private sectors have also witnessed women taking few jobs in the top management of the organizations and hence their pay has continued to be low compared to that of the men. It is important to note that the issue of low pay was one of the issues that affected the women and resulted to the formation of several movements. In this regard, the winning of vote was expected to increase their representation in the parliament and hence give them the opportunity to change these policies. Social problems such as the childcare responsibilities and the responsibility to take care of the home are still left on the hands of the women. This is a clear indication of lack of social and legal change with respect to the winning of the vote. One of the major problems that women are facing in Britain is lack of continual collective struggle like as was witnessed before the passage of the rights to vote. A stated by Barker (1978), even though women are determined, the problem of capitalism that is still a problem would not allow them to change their life and only collective struggle that they employed before would help them in overturning the system again. This shows that women are not united and hence continue to face various instances of discrimination even though they have equal opportunities to participate in both local and the national politics. All these problems have been brought up by the individualistic thinking of the women in leadership who are focused much in their individual well being and not that of the women in general. In this regard, it would be misleading to assert that the political change that was affected in 1918 through according the women rights to vote has done much to their lives. Even though the political landscape has been widened for women, it has not been utilized well by women who take up such political positions as was witnessed before. According to Wingerden (2011), women have not benefited much from the winning of the voting rights because they have not received equal participation in the political arena. The representation of the women in the major political parties as well as in the government has not been done in accordance with the spirit of equal representation for all. This has been attributed to due to the political systems and to stumbling blocks that have to be passed for women to be equally represented. Most of the political vehicles are headed by men and hence it has been very difficult for women to win nominations to vie for parliamentary seats. As observed by Holloway (2005), whenever women are seeking entry into the political elite, they use the institutions that are mainly created and governed by men and hence the high level discriminations play an important role in depriving them the right to rise politically. This has resulted into continued discrimination against the women and hence the right to vote does not help them much but has just increased the number of women who vote in the parliamentary and local councils. It is therefore very difficult for women to vie for top parliamentary seats because they are blocked at the nomination levels. The winning of the voting rights has not fully addressed the issue of economic and social factors in Britain. As observed by Clapson (2009), it is clear that the reason why there is underrepresentation of women in the national; politics is because of the socioeconomic factors. The women continue to be oppressed in occupational as well as professional representation. Lack of resources for campaign and other economic limitations are some of the factors that are described as the major contributors of the unequal representation. Women will only have equal representation compared to the men only if the other institutions would do the same (Chapman, 1993). In this point of view, the major institutions that control the resources are managed by men and hence the perception is transferred to the political representation. It is therefore crucial to advocate for equal representation in other governmental institutions that are headed by the men if this is supposed to reflect and improve the political status of women. In this regard, the winning of voting rights have not done much with regard to the improvement in the living standards and the political life of women. Conclusions The winning of votes made a turning point to the political landscape British politics. The women were accorded the rights to vote after a strong battle through movements and organizations of workers. The winning of the vote resulted into the increased representation of the women in parliamentary through the labor party. This resulted into high hopes and expectation that the lives of women politically would improve and many women would be representatives in parliament. Even though it has resulted into the improvement of the representation, it has not brought much difference to the lives of women politically. This is because the collective struggle for improvement of the political system had stopped and turned into individual benefits struggle. Lack of economic resources as well as the nature of political institutions that are mainly headed by men is given as some of the reasons for the underrepresentation of the women in political arena. This is because the political institutions dominated by men discriminate against the women and hence women are not likely to proceed from nomination exercises. References Barker, R. (1978). “Political ideas in modern Britain: in and after the twentieth century.” London: Routledge. Chapman, J. (1993). “Politics, feminism, and the reformation agenda.” Oxon: Routledge. Clapson, M. (2009). “The Routledge companion to Britain in the twentieth century.” Oxon: Routledge Coppock, V. (1995). “The Illussions of post-feminism: New women, old Myths.” London: Burgess Science Press. Ford, L E. (1997). “Women and politics: The pursuit of equity.” London: Cengage learning. Holloway, Gerry. (2005). “Women and work in Britain since 1840.” Oxon: Routledge. Kent, S K. (1999). “Gender and Power in Britain, 1640-1990.” London: Routledge. Krikos L. (2004). “Women’s studies: A recommended bibliography.” West port: Libraries limited. Lovenduski, J. (1986). “Women and European politics: Contemporary feminism and public policy.” Massachusetts: University of Massachusetts. Robert, M. (2001). “Britain 1846:1964: the challenge of Change.” Oxford: Oxford University press. Wingerden, S. A. (2011). The women’s political suffrage in Britain, 1866-1928.” New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Read More