What Makes A State Feminine Or Feminine?

idea that a woman can not run the country. We see many of this male dominance over women

What is required to be considered masculine or feminine? Is it based upon physical features? Or is it based upon the person’s personality? Unfortunately, in today's society gender is often associated with a person’s physical appearance. A man earns the label of being masculine through his substantial muscles, sharp look, extravagant attire and his remarkable height. Meanwhile a woman is labeled as feminine through her body language, make-up, physical features, social status, and exposing clothing. Gender characteristics should not be defined by physical attributes, they should be defined by the person’s personality. Personality is what truly defines a person’s gender whether a male or female. To have the dignity of being a man or woman, it is a must to behave like a gentleman or a lady.

In contrast, American women hold a minor role in political participation. With only 84 of 435 seats, women face more challenges in American politics than men. (Catalyst) For example, we can look at the most recent election where Hillary Clinton was the victim to many implicit gender bias’. In order to elect the most qualified person to lead a country shouldn’t gender be taken out of the equation? Plato’s approach focuses on electing those who are most qualified and justly, eliminates gender as a factor.

In reality, however, women are equally and in some ways more qualified to hold leadership positions than men. Although there is no single explanation for why women are underrepresented in politics, the gender gap in the political arena stems from the lack of female participation in elections as women are often discouraged or feel threatened by society to run for political office. Young women who aspire a career in politics encounter both structural and emotional barriers, which prevent them from running for political office. Women battle issues of self-confidence, face stereotypes, and derive false perceptions of political campaigns, all of which broaden the gender gap in the political

Within the past 50 years, there has been an increasing amount of women in the government. Whether these women hold powerful positions such as Secretary of State, or hold minor positions such as PTA President, a political revolution is brewing. The United States of America is lacking substantially with regards to females in office, in fact if one were to look statistically at the amount of women in the government, the United States is failing tremendously. Although the United States likes to claim that they are the land of opportunities, it seems as if the only ones reaping those benefits are cis white males. But, there are women who choose to break the glass ceiling and attempt to explore the opportunities that are in front of them, and one

Some people believe women are not socialized in a way that prepares them to hold political powers. Some view politics as a masculine domain. This is a gender stereotype. It is the public’s perception that women cannot make a difference in politics which is often influenced by the

The US national government and California state governments each have their fair similarities and differences. For instance, they are very similar involving the president and governor. As the United States of America has a president, California has their own governor as well. Even though they are not entitled to the same exact responsibilities, they each have a huge importance to their people. The citizens of the United States look up to the president, as the residents of California look up to their governor. The governor is essentially seen as the “state’s symbolic leader” whereas the president is seen as the “nation’s symbolic leader” (Spitzer, 2015, p. 93). A huge advantage that California carries is that the state constitution is typically known for creating a stronger governor than in other states. In some cases, even, the governor can be just a strong as the president. As they are both important members in congress, they each have the ability of making executive and judicial branch appointments. In addition to this similarity between the national and state government, they are also alike in having to do with women’s level of involvement in the legislature. The amount of females working in the legislature is not as common than it is for males. Unfortunately, men have a huge advantage over women in this aspect of the government. On the other hand, there has actually been a significant amount growth of women working in the state legislature since 1975. Even though it has

However, initially men, as well as some women, closed the debate. “ The emergence of party politics profoundly changed the nation’s political culture, and with it, the meaning of women’s political participation” (Zagarri, page 93). Political parties were formed and within these parties women were given a voice and with that voice women would have the ability to form opinions with which to oppose men therefore the political parties were seen to be divisive and promptly closed off to women. In spite of the persistent modes of prevention put in place there remained some progression with every regression. “Women’s presence at the polls was not just a negative sanction; it was also a positive expression of the degree to which they understood the men’s franchise to be a new political opportunity for themselves as as well as their children” (Brown, page

Gender stereotypes–oversimplified ideas of female or male qualities and mannerisms–exist in all areas of life. In the political sphere, stereotypes, such as women not being outspoken or authoritative, negatively influence women and pose barriers to those who are running for political leadership positions. Because women are stereotypically viewed as “warm, gentle, kind, and passive,” in comparison to the typical man that is viewed as “tough, aggressive and assertive,” women feel that their qualities are not suited for political candidacy (Huddy, Nayda). Women are indirectly told through stereotyping that the political arena is unsuitable for their gender; therefore, they pursue careers they feel are suitable for their “feminine” character traits. The higher level of male participation, in comparison to female participation, in political elections is not because the electoral environment “favours” stereotypical male qualities, but rather, the campaigning, and public speaking aspects of the election process are perceived as unsuitable for women. Furthermore, a study conducted in 2014 discovered that voters tend to assign “positive leadership traits to male politicians,” whereas female politicians are repeatedly depicted as having “other characteristics that are not equated with political leadership” such as their physical image (Thomas, Kei). Much like in everyday life, stereotypes drive women to believe they are not capable of running for office or unlikely to win elections despite their exceeding qualifications. Even though stereotypes will always exist, it is important for young women to reflect on their leadership qualities and not allow deeply-rooted stereotypes in the political arena to impede their pursuit of a career in

Sexist values against women in leadership roles impact the confidence and empowerment of female initiative and authority. Embodying leadership is key to political participation – without which one could not take initiative in seeking to foster positive social change. Tony Abbott’s response to a question of women’s opportunities: ‘What if men are by physiology or temperament, more adapted to exercise authority or to issue command?’ (Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) 2012) accounts for the typical gendered attitudes towards female

For example, a group of men from Manitoba would not be able to represent the interest of a group of women from the Maritime provinces. In order to be able to represent the interest of its population better, the government should be representative in contrast to the diversity of it. The role of a patriarchal society impacts in politics is in direct correlation with women’s self-confidence to run in elections (Cain Miller). In order to achieve gender equality and encourage women to run and participate in political life, we must take actions that will have a significant impact on our stagnant parliamentary gender imbalance

While there has been firm establishment in the paper on the role of political party, gender stereotypes, and double binds in the female candidate’s electability, there are three limitations to the model. The first limitation

The sixth chapter in Jamieson’s (1995) book Beyond the Double Bind works strictly with the bind of femininity and competence. This is the bind where women have to balance a fine line between feminine and masculine without tipping the scale. If a candidate shows too much femininity, she risks losing brains, and authority. On the other hand, if a candidate is not feminine enough, she becomes too masculine, strong, shrew, and a bitch. According to Jamieson, gender stereotypes and gendered language are factors reinforcing the bind. The more women begin taking posts traditionally held by males, the more people view them as competent leaders. By taking leadership positions, women being to dismantling the standards of the femininity/competence bind. Many double binds exist for female candidates and the femininity/competence bind is more apparent in their representation in the news media.

Gender has an odd way of creeping into every aspect of our lives. How ones sits, how one speaks, and what one wears are coded by gender to the point where many people attempt to determine and indeed expect how women and men will act before they do so. It would be no surprise then that when one talks about nation-states, we do the same. We collectively assign nation-states genders, mostly along Western and Eastern lines, and we expect the nation-states to act accordingly. David Henry Hwang, author of M. Butterfly, describes the scenario through one of his characters, Song Liling, as “The West thinks of itself as masculine – big guns, big industry, big money – so the East is feminine – weak, delicate, poor…but good at art, and full of inscrutable wisdom – the feminine mystique” (Hwang 1988). Hwang lays out this relationship between the East and West as a relationship between man and woman. He further states that “The West believes the East, deep down, wants to be dominated – because a woman can’t think for herself…You expect Oriental countries to submit to your guns, and you expect Oriental women to be submissive to your men” (Hwang 1988). This relationship would be abusive at best but the question arises, how can the West be masculine but be hailed as a bastion of gender equality at the same time? A good society would be one centered on equality and one aspect of that would be gender equality. Women comprise half of the world’s population – 3.5 billion people –

We’ve grown up in a society where gender has always been an issue, and quite possibly always will be. Unless we start to entirely alter our thoughts and begin to view gender for what it is and not what it’s been portrayed to be for many years there will not be any change.