The Concerns of Women Into Account in Policy Developments - Research Paper Example

Campaigns to ensure gender equity in all spheres of human life has been rife in the modern world. While it is common sense that all human beings are equal, despite their gender differences, it is logical to propose a preferential contribution that characterizes both sexes to be exhibited in politics. Women have certain political preferences based on their feminine needs and orientations, and possible transformations are likely to be introduced in the political arena if their influence is considerably increased. To increase female participation and contribution to the political processes, gender equality must be enshrined in a people’s culture. Democracy is one of the universal political cultures guaranteeing gender equality, hence a platform likely to increase women presence in political processes. According to Diaz (2005, p109), women who form the larger portion of the population have been unjustly subjected to political rule since their representation remains low. According to the author, it could be likened to oppression when women continue to pay taxes to governments dominated by men, yet they are the minority in numbers. It therefore beats the logic of reasonable ruling when the majority has a little say in the manner of governance. Every just society would have women, who are the majority in leadership and decision making roles for gender equality purposes. If women have a right to vote just as men have, it follows that representation at the governing organs of the society is an unalienable right that they possess. Following the 1953 Convention on the Political Rights of Women, it became clear that women have equal rights based on fairness and justice to have their participation in political processes recognized in all senses (Brownlie, 1992, p106). Similar conventions have been held for the projection of arguments supporting women recognition as rightful participants in political roles. For instance, in 1979, it was agreed that more women participating in political representation in parliament could change the society by support of beneficial laws that men had not been able to. This was at the proceedings of the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CADEW). Several countries attending the convention ratified the agreement to allow more gender equality for development. By the year 2001, over a hundred and fifty states had made their ratifications (Cohen, 1996, p187). According to Diaz (2005, p111), there various arguments support women representation in political processes from two perspectives, namely; rights to utility as well as input to output approaches. Whereas rights to utility approach proponents rely on a reasonable basis founded on natural rules of justice, input to output proponents have different basis. Input oriented mechanisms have been formulated to effectively apply legal tools enforcing equal opportunities for all. This mechanisms result in de jure equality. Output oriented mechanisms are put in place to ensure that there is equality, effectively functional for both genders. Consequently, it is a de facto equality mechanism. According to Dahl (1984, p84), the most important leadership assumption is the principle of Strong Equality where upon holding all the other factors constant, the majority of adults should be able to govern. Human beings, according to the author, should be able to govern and constitute decision making bodies irrespective of their gender. To a large extent, the author is perfectly right since provided an individual has reached the age of the majority, his or her leadership decisions are deemed to be mature. It is however not always possible due to apparent inequalities in a contemporary society. Political competence definitions do not exclude individuals based on their gender but on other issues touching on their independence in decision making capabilities. Citizenship forms the basic requirement that an individual possessing political competence should demonstrate. According to Diaz (2005, p60) descriptive as well as substantive analysis on female and male parliamentarians across European democracies, individual preferences have a huge impact on personal judgment. Policy formulation likely to be achieved in a more gender balanced society is likewise deemed to have a true picture of real society needs. This is because whereas female parliamentarians preferred developments in certain policy areas, male parliamentarians have preferences in other different areas. Since every judgment acts as a key contribution in governance, it does matter when women representation is enhanced for the establishment of a true picture in gender roles. To support the importance of a gender balanced representation in political establishments, Campbell (2006, p130) states that differentiation in roles as occasioned in division of labor in the human society demand the same in political scenes. While the author puts emphasis on the caution that should be taken on cohorts regarding their preferences, it is a general feature that certain age groups have their specific preferences including males. A classical study of the British voting patterns demonstrates the preference impact that the electorate has on the election outcomes. Female voters have a totally different preference of political interests from their male counterparts, largely driven by the campaign promises made by the politicians. Projecting this preference to the actual female leadership, policy formulations could change for a better representation of the interests of the people. Landes (1996, p295) argues that throughout history, major political giants and revolutions terribly failed due to lack of ambition balance that gender equity presents. It implies that the early political movements and revolutions greatly disregarded women contribution to political processes which could have been altered for the better by female activism. According to the author, it is right to state that women were technically excluded from the group enjoying citizenship rights. For instance during the French Revolution, women were left out of the picture of a citizen, resulting in a diversion of the revolution towards gender equality in its later stages. Does Gender Equality in Political Representation in National Parliaments Matter? Women representation in the politics remains low in many countries despite the country’s degree of economic development and the severity of the gender inequality in the country. Institutional factors largely define the representation of women in the parliament and their share of the political powers (Chiang 2005, p.1). Gender equality matters in the political representation in the national parliaments. Although this is the ideal case, most people do not believe that gender equality matters in the national parliament. A survey conducted on several parliaments indicated that most of the parliamentarians do not believe that gender equality was rarely mainstreamed in the parliament. Mainstreaming gender equality in the parliament requires a change in the rules and structures of the organization. These initiatives are very important in increasing the sensitivity of gender equality in the parliament. Swedish parliament, for example, has established a framework for undertaking gender equality issues in the parliamentary structure (Inter-Parliamentary Union 2008, p.76). The equality in the parliament matters because it shows how well a country manages itself. According to the World Bank (2001, p.274), gender equality rights and income are related but in the opposite manner. A country where gender equality rights are low, the increased income does not increase or promote gender equality representation in the parliament. In a country where gender equality rights are high, the increased income has a positive impact on the gender equality representation in the parliament. This means that if the gender equality rights are low, the probability of getting equal representation in the Parliament is null. In the case of the European Union, gender equality is crucial for the pursuing of equal opportunities for the women and men in the social, political and economic policies (O’Connor 2010, p.337). In the Scottish parliament, the equal representation of men and women in the parliament is meant to bring and promote democratic sufficiency, new politics and more democratic participation for the women which was lacking. This among other factors led to the devolution of the Scottish parliament from the Westminster. Gender inequalities were much evident in the Westminster. To bring a new revolution to Scotland; relevant, modern and democratic Scotland, feminists argued that they must be represented in the parliament (Tremblay, Trimble and Sawer 2006, p.174). Concerns raised by both sexes in the parliament are entirely different and that is gender equality in the parliament matters. There is clear difference between women’s issues and women’s perspective. Women’s issues are those issues that specifically affect the women and they may be due to physical concerns such as reproductive rights and breast cancer or those due to social reasons such as childcare policy and sex equality. A woman’s perspective is a woman’s view on the political concerns. A research done in Britain in 1996 indicates that although both men and women prioritized economic reasons, women concentrated more on low pay, part-time work and pension rights, and the men concentrated more on unemployment (Ballington and Karam 2005, p.195). This means that unfair representation of women and men in the parliament can bring disharmony in tackling some of the important issues of the country. A fair representation means that all issues concerning men and women can be addressed effectively and in the right way. Equality in the parliament brings in a forum where an MP interested in certain issues such as women’s health or unemployment can identify important discussions and upcoming votes and allow the MP to decide on certain tactics and strategies in order to influence the outcome. Other than influencing the outcome of the issues at hand, it also facilitates the women voter’s access to their legislators. A good example is in Scotland where a crèche has been established for visitors to the national assembly and it has ensured that women can access their representatives in the assembly (Ballington and Karam 2005, p.196). In Costa Rica, there has been a framework to enhance legislation of the gendered issues in the parliament and therefore aiding women agenda’s extension. Their representation in the parliament has also enhanced the awareness of the many gendered nature of the political issues. Women also gain valuable experience when they serve in the women’s committee and in the women’s ministries. These committees enable women to show their skills and thus become a vital element in launching platforms for other careers in the political arena. Those who have gained experience in sex equality portfolios can carry this increased awareness and knowledge of the women’s issues to other key ministries in the government, and thus advance the ongoing process of mainstreaming the women’s concerns (Ballington and Karam 2005, p.199). The speech-making, co-sponsorship and sponsorship of bills by the women in most cases has been very effective than the actual voting of the bills. A study conducted on the French legislative structure, it was found that women were more willing to co-sponsorship bills related to women’s issues and supporting them. It is a different scenario in the developing countries where women shy away from any association with bills on women. These women fear that the bills will not get support from the others due to the stigma associated with being a feminist (Ballington and Karam 2005, p.200). Gender equality in certain cases has been used as a platform for altering parliamentary balances. For example, in the Nordic states, the increased representation of women in the parliament has changed the mode of campaigning. These campaigns have been characterized by show of compassion and warmth and as well as making references to families (Ballington and Karam 2005, p.200). Gender equity in political representation does matter in parliaments. However, it is common knowledge that it takes a bigger number of women to make a difference in politics. This proportion has long been used by the advocates of gender balance in politics. In the early 1980s, larger number of women was used primarily to apply to situations where women had not reached 30 percent in parliaments or local councils. In addition, the argument was that; it was unrealistic to expect major changes in the politics of any nation until women’s representation had reached a certain number, because a small number of women in politics tend to make no influence during debating and voting on crucial bills affecting women’s lives (Inter-Parliamentary Union, 2008). The numbers or percentages of women in parliament and local councils are important for reasons of democratic legitimacy and for many other reasons. But maybe the theory of high percentage of women in parliaments needs to be reformulated. Even a few women can make a big difference in politics under the right conditions (Melby, 2009). Equal representation of women in parliament means that women should have numbers to start a chain reaction or the numbers to cause an irreversible turning point or a take-off into a new situation or process. A qualitative shift in politics will take place when women exceed a proportion of about 20, 30 or 50 percent in an organization or assembly. The move from a small number to a large minority is important in politics, but we should be able to know that the acts of women may be more important than the large number of representation. The society should study women and their role in pursuing policy change, either a lone or together with others; women as well as men (Inter-Parliamentary Union, 2008). The question, does gender equality in political representation in national parliaments matter? is not suitable. Instead the question should best be framed as: do men make a difference in politics? The society should access the conditions an increase in women’s political representation can lead to change. This should not only be done in public policy but also in the political culture and climate. It is also possible for the society to access the efficiency of women politicians and the way we talk about women politicians in a society (Connolly, 2005). Further, we should ask ourselves whether equal representation of women in parliaments is influential in their ability to become effective in their work, to perform their tasks as politicians the way they individually prefer in spite of being a minority. Can equal representation of women be of importance to other issues such as stigmatization, exclusion, incumbency and providing role models? Political life is much harder for women politicians who want to pursue an agenda of change when they also have to fight for their basic rights as women parliamentarians and local councilors (Lombardo, 2009). On the contrary, the presence of women in parliament can bring a bout remarkable change in the country, especially in the area of promotion of gender equality and poverty reduction. Political representation of women represents the voice of people at local level. When more women come to higher positions, they can play an important role in addressing women’s concerns and promoting more women in decision-making positions. Equal representation in the parliament will be considered a success and recognition from society of women’s capacity in the development of the country, especially for men (Squires, 2007). This will encourage and give more confidence to other women to participate in all political, social and economic activities (Lombardo, 2009). Equal representation of women therefore means that there are more to draw from who will act on behalf of other women. Women are also not a homogenous group. Equal representation provides a broader spectrum of views to fully represent their diverse views, not just on women’s concerns but on all policy matters. The presence of greater numbers of women in parliament will increase the chance that women’s concerns, or the views of women, will be raised in debates, in committee work and in party matters (Kramarae and Spender, 2000). When the number of women is small, the opportunities of women’s concerns being addressed will be minimal. In addition, the small number of women in parliament can also put added pressure on those female members to raise the concerns of women. However, this is particularly difficult in countries where the number of women is less. The small number of women in parliament may make it hard for them to be confident that their views will garner enough support to be influential. Moreover, when there is no enough women representation, there might be no women to participate effectively in parliamentary committees. They are then left out of policy discussions by virtue of their physical absence. The solution is only to increase the representation of women in various committees of the parliament (Kramarae and Spender, 2000). Conclusion Women participation in politics delivers a stronger and more representative democracy and results in better outcomes for citizens. Women politicians have made great strides in shaping legislative agendas in their countries. Across the world, parliaments differ in terms of the number of women members; it is evident that the efforts of women have resulted in more policies that are of benefit to them and the communities in which they are based. Women have been able to raise concerns while debating, proposed and supported bills. This has often prompted various parliaments to take the concerns of women into account in policy developments. To be precise, women efforts to combat gender based violence are yielding results on the legislative front. Women legislators all over the world are at the forefront of fighting against gender discrimination. 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