Women and Politics - Coursework Example

Women politics INTRODUCTION: Politics and political theory could not be easily conceived like an arithmetic derivation. Steadfast conclusions are actually rare besides the fact that any such conclusions would go pragmatically wrong making all the concerned fools. We are like people born in a cage and unable to visualize any world beyond our familiar bars of prejudice and superstition1. To maintain a balance in political activities, it is of utmost important that the political leaders have to represent the people whom they advocate towards prosperity and also lead them towards the moral destinations. Policy decisions in such circumstances are necessarily to be meticulous at least for the time being. American deregulation of genetically engineered food products such as Geep meat (a cross between a sheep and a goat) and certain forms of new vegetables into Canadian market is the best example of the like situation. Media analysis on this issue had critically assumed that the decision should have been of Canadian origin.(Joel Schalit, 1994 ). Going back in centuries, we can have an overall idea of politics through Aristotle2. His science of politics encompasses two different fields namely ethics and political philosophy. As regards ethics his contention that practical wisdom could not be acquired solely by learning general rules is noteworthy. Answers to the abstract question of whether egoistic behaviour serves the general good can be got from general equilibrium theory with respect to some idealized circumstances. This theory does not matter if people are in fact egoistic3. The conventional alienation of women in politics has almost disappeared. The gender gap has become the defining feature of the US elections since the previous two and a half decades. In fact the gender differences were apparent in many races since 2006 and still continue to be long-term trends. Women as voters have developed themselves as an efficient controlling factor in elections. This showed their knowledge of politics would set trends in politics. (Susan J. Carroll, 2006). The recent voting trend in the Super Tuesday Races of February 5, 2008 confirms the gender gap. In California and Masachusettes, where Hilary Clinton won the gender gap was just 14 while in Utah where Obama won the gap was 204. MEDIA AND WOMEN POLITICIANS: The role of media that is considered to be a formative pillar in any democracy still lacks its interest in propagating the achievements of women politicians. The Round Table conducted by IPU in 1997 made efforts to its fullest strength to bring the women politicians more in the lime light5. The conference believed good media coverage would compensate for a lack of financial resources, which normally is crucial in politics. The conference also devised the modalities and traits of women politicians in interacting with media. The concern of the conference over the less openness of media to the achievements of women politicians was much deliberated. The paradoxical relation ship between the media and politicians was the underlying element of debate in the conference as a whole. Business Week once stated in 2000: ‘After years of analyzing what makes leaders most effective and figuring out who’s got the Right Stuff, management gurus now know how to boost the odds of a great executive: Hire a female’ (Sharpe R. 2000). However some media like New York Times consider women a decided disadvantage for leadership. They portray women as still suffering disadvantage in access to leadership positions as well as prejudice and resistance when they occupy these roles. New York Time viewed that Hilary Clinton would be handicapped by her gender if she ran the time of crunches. This medium went to the extent of generalizing this gender gap by sarcastically stating, “Anyone who thinks it won’t be difficult for a woman to get elected president of the United States should go home, take a nap, wake up refreshed and think again.” (Herbert. B, 2006) DECISION MAKING AND WOMEN POLITICIANS: Politicians generally are the law makers. Decision making usually is controlled by the laws. This being the plight, politicians while acting as decision makers tend to follow the bureaucratic style of harnessing discretionary powers. Julia Black (1997) examined the role of law and discretion analyzing institutionalism and naturalism. Her style of analysis by asking two inseparable questions makes her work bright. Her first question was: If in decision making, law is not determinative, but rather decisions are shaped by other bureaucratic norms or political and economic pressures, what role does the law play? She also tried to answer the flip side of this question by asking : what impact does the decision process have on law? On analyzing the institutionalist approach on political science J. Black found that Institutions affected both the degree of pressure (an actor) a politician could exert on policy and the direction of that pressure. (Julia Black, 1997,). The need for welfare reform in American politics in 1994 posed many questions of research on the role of unconscious response to implicit biases. Ange Marie Hancock’s (2004) analytical approach depicts the picture of welfare mothers in America. Even the African-American political establishment turned away from the NWRO because of anti-welfare feelings of African Americans and the moral judgment of black ministers against single mothers. The very internalization by the single black welfare mothers of the distorting stereotypes crippling NWRO opens a flood gate for research into political decision making processes.(Ange-Marie Hancock, 2004). As regarding ethical and moral judgements, both sexes are found to converge their judgements as they become old. (Daniel Aldrich, Rieko Kage, 2003). Forgiveness generally is construed as a feminine quality. To maintain strict morality strict adherence to penal law sometimes does not fetch results. Specifically the reemployment of ex-offenders under the provisions of Occupational licensing processes under the Bonafide Occupational Quality (BFOQ) requires multidirectional perception in order that ex-offenders can improve their success rates in re-entry into the community and bolster the financial well-being of their families and themselves through gainful and legitimate employment. (Karol Lucken & Lucille M. Ponte, 2008). When the findings of Daniel Aldrich are read with the Karol Lucken’s BFOQ analysis, women leaders to deal with some of the tough cases are fruitful. Enforcement of regulations is part and parcel of decision making processes in which compulsive deviations from routine methods become necessary. In such occasions, leadership roles are subjected to double-edged pull or push between soft bargaining/ negotiations and hard implementation of certain painful activities. Women leaders in such circumstances are left perplexed and many times cornered to adopt masculine approaches. Bargaining although is central to compliance strategy; a more threatening posture has to be taken, when a conciliatory approach fails. Different variety of mores including bluffs about legal sanctions is necessitated to be employed in such conditions. (Keith Hawkins, 2008) SURMOUNTING GENDER PREJUDICE: Women usually are faced with accommodating the sometimes conflicting demands of their roles as women and their roles as their leaders. (Alice H. Eagly, 2007).The following example would elucidate the role difference impact experienced by Mrs. Indira Gandhi, the late Prime Minister of India. When millions of refugees poured into the territory of India from Bangladesh in 1971, she wanted the Field Marshal, Sam. Manekshaw to march into Banglasesh, which the later refuted on the ground that such operation would amount to a war. Mrs. Indira Gandhi quipped, ‘we don’t mind a war’. But General Manekshaw was stiff enough to contain his views against waging a war. He advised the postponement of war operations till the winter months. The ministers around him in the meeting were strong in supporting the views of the Prime Minister. They included Mr. Jag Jeevan Ram, the then defence Minister and Mr.Fakrudin Ali Ahmed the then Agricultural Minister. When all the General’s attempts to convince the group of ministers failed, he preferred to resign either on physical or mental grounds. This finally made the Prime Minister to budge. She replied, “Alright Sam, nobody will interfere; you will be in command”(Bakhitiar K. Dadbhoy, 2008). The role difference adjustment by Mrs. Indira Gandhi in this example is self evident by the contrast in the stubborn insisting on war by the male ministers around the Prime Minister. The spectacular victory in the war which broke out later as advised by the Field Marshal has placed Mrs. Indira Gandhi in the history of India as an eminent leader and has paved way for many women to enter into the Indian politics. USA that leaps half a century before in all aspects from India, however still retains masculine dominating politics despite there is evidence that women are slightly preferred in some primary and general elections through female voters.(Smith E.R.AN., & Fox R.L., 2001). Moral convictions too equally motivated political engagements for those on political right and left. Linda J.Skitka (2008) in her studies of 2000 presidential election and 2004 presidential election found little support for the notion that a combination of morality and politics is something more characteristic of the political right than it is for the political left. (Linda J. Skitka & Christopher W. Bauman, 2008) CONCLUSION: Politics is generally a realm of power-cantered play ground. It comprises basically two groups of people—one to rule and the other to be ruled—in which the ruled mass must necessarily posses the qualities of subordination in one or in all respects. In any kind of politics this is the basic undertone. In social interactions too this formula works out. Although Status and knowledgeable capability form part of these criteria, sex is an easiest core of distinction to stratify a set of population on the grounds of frailty. This being the general formula adopted, the reason for male ruling or trying to govern females is still obscure. In what way male community is more powered than females? Answer to this question was derived in a deformed state. That is, the biological importance given to male community is the seed bed of all these chaos. As far as the physical strength is concerned no specific distinction is found in human anatomy. Physical strength is something related to the food habit and exercise practices followed by individuals. The role of males in procreation has wrongly been assigned a greater importance from time immemorial keeping females in a relatively lower plane. This is where the crux of the entire scenario lies. A phenomenon in which two entities are the comprising units, and in which the responsibilities and activities are equally shared among the entities, is it nice to adjudge one to be superior to the other? In sex, the biological convenience of males occupying an upper position is wrongly construed as a rule of law to consider males as superior in extra sexual ambit too. The recent evolution of feministic views in many societies is also subjected to certain limitations of underplaying the dominance of females, despite the fact that women begin to occupy increasingly greater fields of occupation whence, males are alone believed to be fit to occupy. Even in the aristocratic realms where women are in supreme power, the real power of governing lies in the hands of males leaving the ‘Queen-bee’ status to the women in top brass. An analysis recently made by Rachel Stone (2007) on ninth century marriage disputes revealed that despite the patriarchal basis of Carolingian society, the power even of elite men over women and marriage was often highly contingent. However such restrictions on power did not endanger the gender order. The masculinity of the men involved in these marriage disputes like archbishops, popes and kings was not questioned. (Rachel Stone (2007) The biological bias is the chief predictor of male domination in several societies leading to or exacerbating the condition to male chauvinism via patriarchy. Such narcissistic awareness had paved way to allow only the males in the forefront and women in the backdrop. What has made women, who are actually equal in almost all realms and activities to men in their life, to go along with and accept this masculine intransigence? Perhaps, the attainment of a natural equilibrium may be ascribed to such enduring traits of women in any society. * * * * REFERENCE LIST – Ange-Marie Hancock, 2004, “The politics of Disgust: The Public Identity of Welfare Queen”, new York university Press, New York, p 210 Alice H. Eagly, 2007, “Female leadership Advantage and Disadvantage: Resolving the Contradictions”, Psychology of Women Quarterly, 31, 1-12, Blackwell Publishing Inc. Bakhitiar K. Dadbhoy, “Sugar in Milk: Lives of Eminent Parsis, pp 462 as cited in Deccan Chronicle dated 17.02.2008, pp II of Viewpoint, Chennai Edition, India Daniel Aldrich, Rieko Kage, 2003, “Mars and Venus at Twilight: A Critical Investigation of Moralism, Age Effects, and Sex Differences”, Political Psychology 24 (1) , 23–40 Herbert. B, 2006, May 19, “Hillary can run, but can she win?, New York Times, p.A29 Joel Schalit, 1994, “Crossing the Rock Island Line: Civil Society & Politics in Canada & The United States”, Bad Subjects Production Team, Issue No.17 retrieved from http://govt.eserver.org/civil-society-and-politics.txt on 16.02.2008 Julia Black, 1997, “New Institutionalism and Naturalism in Socio-Legal Analysis: Institutionalist Approaches to Regulatory Decision Making”, Journal of Law and Policy, Vol. 19 Issue No.1, 51-93 Karol Lucken & Lucille M. Ponte, 2008, “A Just Measure of Forgiveness: Reforming Occupational Licensing Regulations for Ex-offenders Using BFOQ Analysis”, Law and Policy, Vol.30, Issue No.1, 46 -72 Keith Hawkins, 2008 “Bargain and Bluff: Compliance Strategy and Deterrence in the Enforcement of Regulation” ,Law & Policy 30 v1 Linda J. Skitka & Christopher W. Bauman, 2008, “Moral Conviction and Political Engagement”, Political Psychology 29 (1) , 29–54 Rachel Stone (2007) ‘Bound from Either Side’: The Limits of Power in Carolingian Marriage Disputes, 840-870, Gender & History 19 (3), 467–482 Sharpe R. 2000, “As leaders, women rule: New Studies find that female managers outshine their male counterparts in almost every measure. Business Week, November 20 , 2000. p74 Smith E.R.AN., & Fox R.L., 2001, “the Electoral Fortunes of Women Candidates for Congress”, Political Research Quarterly, 54, 205-221 Susan J. Carroll, 2006, “Women’s Votes Pivotal in Shifting Control of US Senate to Democrates”, A Press Release Election Watch dated 09.11.2006 retrieved from www.cawp.rutgers.edu on 16.02.08 Read More