Introduction
Politics is what keeps countries stable, it is so fundmanetal in that it affects the lives of everyone. It was an imagined order that dates back several centuries which has now transformed into concrete systems which allow societies to function with minimal chaos????. The heart of democracy is that of the people, the people rule. Considering Norway and Australia are functioning representative democracies which are supposedly the voice of the people. Why is it that a portion of the people, being women, are not fairly represented in government? How are women’s concerns being acted upon if men dominate? What are the factors that account for the challneges that women face? There are several underlying factors which affect womens ability and chances of participating regardless of electoral and party politis that are more effective than others. Certain electoral systems such as proportional representation compared to first past the post are proven to be more effective in giving women the avility to partipcate in politics. Party politics are a result of the type of
Although proportional representation, poltical party quota and democracy all help women’s representation, gender stereptypes and biases continue to prove the difficulty of equal representation in politics.
Understanding Underrepresentation
Politics affects everybody, it is the foundation of how we as people live and how the decisions of polticians affect us. Understanding underrepresentation will lead to answering how we as a globe can change politics for the better. On average women only account for 24% of parliamaterians, 15.6% in the pacific and 42.6% in the Nordic countries. Considering the
A representative democracy is when the representatives are elected to power and they represent the concerns of the people. If representative democracy is supposed to be the voice of the people, is it really a true representative democracy if there is not an equal balance of men and women? Men and women have different experiences of the world therefore more women in poltitics will help create substance to change the dynamic of politics. Specifically the concerns of women that men may not understand. It is only fair to have women and men in power. Considering both Australia and Norway have established a representative democracy and both still do not have equal representation Underrepresentation of women is an issue not only in politics but in many professional occupations which have traditionally and even continue to be dominated by men. It is important to grasp an understanding of these factors that affect women’s ability and chances to participate in politics in order to make sense of the problem. Such factors include but are not limited to history, norms, cultural expectations, religion, and gender stereotypes. To expand on these causes of underrepresentation there a few in particular that stand out. All of these factors are universally applicable as they are the underlying issues that truly affect the outlook of women. Regardless of how well a country is doing with equality…
One cause of underrepresentation is the double standard of women and men responsibility in the domestic sphere. The domestic sphere has traditionally been attached to the “wife” in the relationship .Also referred to as the “private” sphere of life which includes personal duties like child baring, cooking, cleaning, etc. The “public” sphere which are the duties outside of the home consisting of professional occupation or physical labor. These standards still continue to this day, not to the same degree necessarily but impact women’s ability to participate in the public sphere. The question is something like how can women fully participate when having child care duties but shouldn’t the same be said for a man with child care duties? These standards are considered gender roles which are ingrained ideas of what a man and a women’s “duties” are. The idea of gender roles create a bias which in turn affect the which affects women’s participation are cultural attitude which vary from region to region. The universal notion of women’s role in society has transitioned to a accepting women and men into public areas and men private. Overall the learned behaviour of what women and men should say, do and act. This leads to lack of confidence in having a woman in power due to the traditional beliefs of what she should be doing. Especially since politics is dominated by men considering it’s a field of power. People may have more confidence in a male due to the fact they have been always held power and are what comes to mind as a political leader. This bias affects all of the smart, capable women out there that could just as good of a job as a male candidate. Ultimately there are several factors which produce usually an unconscious bias towards women but concrete systems in politics certainly make a difference.
Electoral and Political Party Politics ; Norway
Party politics is affected by the type of electoral system a county has. There are two different electoral systems that will be analyzed which are currently implemented in Australia and Norway, that being First Past the Post and Proportional Representation. In short, Proportional Representation is when the number of seats that a party has is in proportion yo the number of people that voted. Therefore women representations is higher in legistures that in the PR system where votes equals seats. The main component to the system of PR is the open list system where voters choose what party and which candidate they prefer Closed list on the other hand doesn’t allow to choose individual candidates, only parties.Although this is optional and the voter usually picks the party. PR is more effective in representation not only of women but people of different racial backgrounds, ehtncities, religion which counter the popuar parties demogprahic and allow for new voices to be heard . The multi party system as opposed to the single or two party system gives room more room for women vs “safe candidates”.PR benefits in several ways especially due to the fairness of every vote counting, minority parties gaining representation, and power being shared. This way First off, Norway is a one of the few countries in the northern Europe region which are the Nordic countries. The Nordic countries are world leaders in top issues including human rights, climate change and equality. Behind the concrete electoral system that is in place are social values which are unique to Norway’s culture which in turn prudce an even greater amount of women representation.