Australia Has Gone Backwards On Women Politics

Overall, the representation of elected women now stands at about 25 % at each level of government, including on municipal councils, in provincial/territorial legislatures and at federal level. (Parliament of Canada, 2016) With this significant gender parity in politics, the paper examines the causes of the under-representation of Canadian women in politics. Findings are based on scholarly articles and their analyzed data on why do fewer Canadian women run for political office. When taken together, the results presented in this paper argues that (1) unwelcoming environment (women and family unfriendly working environment) with lack of support in political engagement, (2) women’s experience of exclusion, paternalism and systemic discrimination in political realm, and (3) media’s portrayal of women as to be marginalized by the society are what cause Canadian women to be under-represented in politics. Finally, the paper raises an interesting question from the topic of gender disparity into further discussion of the discrimination within discriminated group women other than those privileged ones who are likely to be selected in public

Allowing women to vote, wage increases, employment and parental leave have been major winning battles for women in Australia and all around the world, but the fights not over yet. Equal representation in politics is a new critical battle that must be tackled head on. It is essential for women to be able to express their opinions on the political course of Australia.

The most adequate of women are being scared away from the political race because of the sexist attacks against women in government. The most suitable women look at past candidates and witness the attacks on them and choose to avoid the political

Thirdly, feminists are concerned that the small numbers of women in the House of Commons means that women’s interests and needs are not being

Australia allowed women both to have the right to vote and to be elected into parliament on a national base in 1902. Groups of women formed to create suffrage groups. These groups created petitions, flyers, posters, debates and meetings along with others to raise awareness and persuade people to join their side.

This essay will argue why Canada should take a substantive approach to women’s representation in parliament. Having an adequate representation of women in parliament would be a huge turning point for women and allow their voices to be heard. Each woman holds a different view, just like men do. Each gender and person will bring their own view forth and allow for a diverse House. The issue is that women are not getting adequate representation, and therefore are not being able to represent their views. Men have a much larger congregation than women, therefore overpowering the views/ideologies of them. In Canada, everyone strives for equality, and the best place to start is to take a substantive approach to women’s representation in parliament.

Smits’s journal article titled ‘The strange decline of the Australian Labor Party’ (2003) gives reason as to why there has been a decline in Labor’s voting, sourcing it to be the party’s unsuccessful policies, their relationship with trade unions and their failure to ‘Place issue on the importance of women’ (Page 2 of the article). By being a more recent

Statistics Canada shows that women make up of 50.4% (2010) of Canada’s collective population, however, only 25.3 % of those women are situated in the House of Commons (Women, 2015). Why would this be the case? Canadian women have suffered for a long time now regarding the concern that not only dictated history but has also harshly influenced today’s society, which is the social gap between men and women. It is arguable that this gap has prevented women from the ability to seek their highest potential due to the lack of recognition they would receive, mainly because of their gender. Women have been stigmatized in society as being inferior to men in many aspects of life, such as, “not being as intelligent or as strong as men” even if they are.

This paper argues that enduring gender biases and disparities continue to plague the Canadian political system, leaving women on the sidelines of democratic decision-making and further diminishing their propensity to enter politics. Moreover, this paper investigates this puzzle against the backdrop of socioeconomic, cultural and institutional factors to provide a holistic view of some of the key constraints women face. Finally, this paper offers three policy recommendations to correct institutional gender disparities and to bolster women’s political participation in Canada. The next section will be focusing on the under-representation of women in the Canadian Parliament to demonstrate how gender inequality plays a role in politics, election cycle and

Society sees men with the traits that display more stronger and dominant attitudes that is left women to be in the shadow. Women having a lower income compared to men are not because they work fewer hours, and it is not because they have a lower education level as well (Grant). This shows patriarchy where it revolves around a power system that is organized around the dominance of men. “Even with all of these factors are considered, the result remains the same: a wage gap” (Grant). During the election, it was shown that the majority of the elected members were men (Taber). The results were that 88 out of 338 MPs have been elected into the federal office (Taber), which shows that society does not give many women the opportunity to be

Civic participation is a fundamental component in one’s life when they become citizens to a country. It begins with an informed decision to engage as a citizen in the democratic process. There are a myriad of ways in which citizens can be active in society. This includes; being involved in political parties, government-making decisions, joining particular organisations of interest as well as the community and its local affairs. It is through this engagement that one attains a sense of identity. However, barriers can also arise when one attempts or chooses to actively participate in the community. This therefore, hinders individuals from further obtaining a form of inclusion amongst society. This overarching idea is evident in Julia Gillard’s misogyny speech. This speech is an excellent exemplar of how gender roles and prejudice against women can trigger and prohibit individuals from actively participating in society.

Stereotypically, men are considered better than women in every aspect naturally, politics included; also women not enable to make decisions in society (Clover, McGregor, Farrell, & Pant, 2011, p. 21). These stereotypes might be unfair, but they have left an impression still visible today. Research conducted in 2009 by Statistics Canada shows, only 21.1% of provincial and federal government is made up of women, and only slightly more than 25% in the local governments (Clover, et al., 2011, p. 20). This percentage of women might sound like a lot, but when put the numbers all together; there are only a few women. There was only one woman to be elected Prime Minister of Canada. That just shows how rare it is for women to hold a position in Canadian Government. Sometimes, women can bring a different perspective to political meetings. Slowly,

It is argued that Julia Gillard’s ‘misogyny speech’, delivered before Parliament on the 9th of October 2012, was the result of systematic gender bias present in the Australian psyche. The ‘misogyny speech’ was launched against the then Opposition Leader Tony Abbott, highlighting sexist and misogynistic observations the leader had made in the past. Since the second-wave feminist movement of the 1970s, renowned commentators have discussed the negative contrast between the depiction of men and women in the public sphere. Examining the representation of women in politics, combined with their negative portrayal in the media, it is clear gender inequality is thriving.

Women are underrepresented in political offices at the national and local levels. Currently, only 17 women serve in the United States Senate out of 100 seats and only 16 percent of the United States House of Representatives are female. Why is this a problem? Legislatures, the House of

New Zealand was the first country to give women the right to vote in 1893, however, since then we have dropped to 27th when it comes to gender representation in government, out of 188 countries. One of the many reasons as to why women are under represented in parliament can be linked to the issue of the political obstacles that face women. This is when they want to be in parliament, women whom are in parliament, and the many women who this is not an option for due to lack of opportunity. Women have to face this “masculine model” of politics and government. Men are dominant in parliament, meaning that political life revolves around male norms and values (Shvedova). This can be extended, politics is very much about competition and confrontation. Rather than politics being