The Impact of Women’s Political Engagement
and its Effects on Policy Making
Priscilla Gutierrez
University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Author Note
Priscilla Gutierrez, College of Education, University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
Priscilla is currently majoring as a Secondary Education major with a focus in English.
Correspondence regarding this research paper should be addressed to Priscilla Gutierrez, University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
Contact: gutiep1@unlv.nevada.edu
Abstract
This paper explores…
Keywords: women, political engagement, policy making, leadership roles, parliaments, gender-equality, legislators
The Impact of Women’s Political Engagement
and its Effects on Policy Making
Traditionally, politics have been viewed as a man’s game. Due to these longstanding cultural attitudes, the obstacle stands in the way of achieving more female representatives in legislatures. According to UN Women, the United Kingdom’s organization for the empowerment of women, (2017) “As of June 2017, only 2 countries have 50 per cent or more women in parliament in single or lower houses: Rwanda with 61.3 percent and Bolivia with 53.1 percent; but a greater number of countries have reached 30 percent or more.” Currently, Rwanda has the highest number of women actively participating in parliaments worldwide; specifically, “63.8 percent of seats in the lower house” (see Appendix A).
Though there have been changes over time and women’s representation is on the rise, overall, gains have been minimal. (Jalalzai) According to Jalalzai (2009), “Causes for women’s continued lack of representation are multifaceted and encompass institutional, structural, cultural, and historical factors.” (p. 45) Political culture has long sidelined, and in some cases, even excluded women in the political sphere, which affects all areas of female representation worldwide, most specifically within policy making decisions.
To continue moving toward gender equality within the political sphere, governmental institutions and their members alike must become gender-sensitive which can only be done by a global partnership between men and women. This paper explores women’s political status throughout the world and an analysis of the effectiveness of gender quotas throughout different parts of the globe.
History
Across international literature regarding women’s representation in politics reached its peak globally and historically in Scandinavian countries, particularly Denmark, Norway and Sweden – due to quotas (Freindenvall, 2017; Phillips 1995:57). According to Lenita Freindenvall, author of article, “Women’s Political Representation and Gender Quotas – the Swedish Case” their previously stated argument is inaccurate. In fact, only some political parties introduced quotas, excluding Denmark altogether; “The Center Party […] has enjoyed the highest representation of women in the Swedish […] than any other since the 1970s, without quotas…” furthermore, “… political parties in Scandinavia first introduced electoral gender quotas during the 1980s, when women already occupied 20-30 percent of the seats in parliament, at that time […] the highest in the world” (p. 2). Therefore, the breakthrough women’s representation in parliaments in Scandinavian countries happened before the introduction of gender quota policies in the 1970s.
Gender Quotas
Women’s involvement in elite politics has seen an extremely slow growth, a trend that is apparent not only throughout the United States, but throughout the world. According to UN Women (2017), “As of June 2017, 46 single or lower houses were composed of 30 percent or more women, including 19 countries in Europe, 13 in Sub-Saharan Africa, 11 in Latin America have applied some form of quotas-either legislative candidate quotas or reserved seats – opening space for women’s political participation in national parliaments.” The question is then, how can gender equality be achieved for women within political involvement? Affirmative action methods, also known as gender quotas, within governmental institutions have been put in place in hopes of fostering a more gender inclusive environment in the political sphere. According to Par Zetterberg (2009), “…gender quotas are meant to generate political advancement of women in all spheres of society and not only produce a numerical increase of women in elected bodies (Dahlerup and Freindenvall 2005; Htun and Jones 2002; Kudva 2003; United Nations 1995)”. The following demonstrate the impacts of gender quotas and their positive effects on women’s political attitudes and activities.
Elections. Though highly controversial, electoral gender quota policies are being introduced and implemented in an increasing number of countries around the world (Freindenvall, 2017; www.quotaproject.org) in efforts to expand of women in politics to test the effectiveness of mandatory female representation within local and national governments. According to Freindenvall (2017) “In more than 50 countries quotas for public election is now stipulated in major political parties’ own statues, demanding that a certain minimum of the parties’ candidates for election to national parliament must be women” (p. 2). By ensuring female representation by mandated quotas, the nature of political competition and election methods may be forever changed. Authors Raghabendra Chattopadhyay and Esther Duflo (2004) test these ideas in their article, “Women as Policy Makers: Evidence from a Randomized Policy Experiment in India”; combining their research they’ve found that no evidence points to “the impact of reservation [of seats] is driven by features other than the gender of the [Pradhan, also known as leader in India]” (p. 1411).
Policy Making
Recent economic research demonstrates politicians play a significant role in shaping country level outcomes. (D. Hicks, J. Hicks, Maldonado, 2015) According to research by Bratton and Ray (2002), “… a common rationale for the advocacy of increased gender diversity within government is the belief that women bring a different set of attitudes, interests, and priorities to policy making (Darcy, Welch, and Clark 1987, 89)” (p.428). Regarding gender, D. Hicks et. al., affirm, “…the empowerment of women in governance has been associated with lower levels of corruption and higher levels of spending, both in total and on public goods in particular”. The question then, regarding the potential impact of women in political institutions, specifically female legislators in the context of the United States, is: Do women office holders provide women with substantive representation or just descriptive representation? (Jalalzai, 2008)
Health Care and Child Care. Due to the increase of women in elite politics, the expectation is that distinct policy decisions will improve the lives of citizens, especially those of women. Through there is few research outside of the United States, According to Jalalzai (2008) “there is evidence that democracies with higher proportions of female legislators pass more laws benefiting children (Lijphart 1991)” (p. 38). A case study done in Norway demonstrates that women’s representation has aided in improved child-care legislation (p. 38). Kathleen Bratton and Leonard Ray, colleagues and authors of an article titled, “Descriptive Representation, Policy Outcomes, and Municipal Day-Care Coverage in Norway” (2002) articulate the findings of their studies regarding the relationship between the increased representation of women and improved policy outcomes. Bratton and Ray use a statistical analysis of childcare cover
age in the Norwegian municipalities in 1975, 1979, 1983, 1987 and 1991 to model the relationship between female representation and the provision of child care.
The emphasis of the article is largely on the difference between descriptive and substantive representation; substantive being: the tendency of elected legislators to advocate on behalf of certain groups, and descriptive: elected legislators not only representing the expressed preferences of the nation, but also the politically relevant descriptive characteristics which they hold. Within, In the longstanding political culture of a male-dominated governmental representation, “members of the dominant group are […] unlikely to address minority interests” (Bratton & Ray, 2002). Their studies used data on child-care services provided by over 400 Norwegian municipalities to examine the conditions under which descriptive representation of women was likely to enhance substantive representation. (Bratton & Ray, 2002) The necessary conditions in this study were the following: gender differences within the public to have a wide majority of values and interests that can then be represented by those members of elite politics. Second, the presence of women within representative bodies, and finally, local governments’ ability to have considerable impact on policy outcomes concerning women. Their studies demonstrate that the cumulative effect concerning the provision of child care jumped to over 40 percent between the years 1975 and 1991 with councils with at least 50 percent of female representation, as opposed to one’s with zero male representation which only improved 30 percent within the same time frame. Although Bratton and Ray’s (2002) findings indicates that the effect of women is not constant, it does “…demonstrate that gender representation does indeed influence public policy outputs…” (p. 435).
Women’s representation in government has proven repeatedly to improve the lives of others and make an impact on their day-to-day lives. UN Women (2017) points to research done in local governments in India which found “that the number of drinking water projects in areas with women-led councils was 62 percent higher than those with man-led councils.”
Foreign Aid. D. Hicks et. al conclude “…that male legislators are more likely to offer foreign aid through multilateral agreements in which giving behavior is subject to international pressure, while female legislators may be more willing to go it alone in the form of bilateral aid.” (p. 55) “The share of women in parliament have a positive and significant effects on aid which is independent from the impact of changing government ideology.” (D. Hicks, 2015)
Education.
Working Across Parties Lines. According UN Women (2017), “Women demonstrate political leadership by working across party lines through parliamentary women’s caucuses – even in the most politically combative environments – and by championing issues of gender equality, such as the elimination of gender- based violence, parental leave and childcare, pensions, gender-equality laws and electoral reform.”
Refutation
Although gender quota policies seem effective, there is criticism on whether or not they truly impact women’s political confidence and ultimately have a connection on the effects of policy outcomes. Par Zetterberg, author of article, “Do Gender Quotas Foster Women’s Political Engagement?” (2009), calls out the local parliament studies done in India by noting the limitations with these analyses is that they are based on single cases which makes it difficult to generalize the findings (Zetterberg, 2009). Another problem with these findings is regarding the use of qualitative data which constitutes a lack of control for other factors. The biggest criticism for the analyses that Zetterberg (2009) addresses is that “there is a possibility women who live in societies with gender quotas are already more politically engaged prior to the adoption of the law; as a result, differences in political attitudes and behavior are because of other factors and not the quota law itself” (p. 715). Zetterberg (2009) tests these hypotheses in 17 Latin American countries, covering approximately 100, 000 women; “this part of the world suffers from substantial gender inequalities in politics but remains at the core of gender quota legislation” (p. 716).
Conclusions and Future Study
A stronger presence of women in governmental positions allows for the concerns affecting women to be addressed and highlighted throughout political agendas. (IPU) Although gender quotas are a way promote women into the participation of politics, it must be emphasized that they may not be the best or only way of promoting women. Whether due to discrimination, lack of education, upholding of traditional values or simply the disinterest of women to hold elite political positions, women are still widely under-represented around the globe. Through this research, it is no question that the presence of women in governmental bodies has positive impacts in the expansion of policy outcomes that benefit women and their areas of interest. To continue moving toward gender equality within the political sphere, governmental institutions and their members alike must become gender-sensitive which can only be done by a global partnership between men and women.
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Appendix A