Transcript how women activists can and should participate in electoral politics

Transforming politics:
how women activists can and
should participate in electoral
politics
Dr Rosie Campbell
[email protected]
Twitter: @Rosiecampb
Do women participate less than men?
Partisan politics
MPs
Councilors
Members
Supporters
Voters
Civic engagement
• Cause oriented activities
• Voluntary work
• Education, child and health
related groups
Group membership
Sex
Percentage
Children's education/ schools
Men
12.1
Women
21.6***
Type of political activity
Sex
Percentage
Men
12.5
Contacted a Member of Parliament
Men
6.8
Women
14**
Women
6.2
Men
7
Men
22.9
Women
11.6***
Women
24.4*
Men
35.8
Women
27.8***
Men
7.3
Men
13.6
Women
6.3*
Women
19.4***
Men
2
Men
5
Women
1.7
Women
9***
Men
8.8
Women
15.1***
Men
5.6
Women
5.5
Men
10.3
Women
10.6
Men
3.5
Women
3
Men
10.4
Women
11.6*
Men
3.9
Women
4.9**
Men
24.5
Women
21.6**
Men
6.7
Women
4.6***
Youth/children's activities (outside school)
Education for adults
Sports/exercise (taking part, coaching or going to watch)
Religion
The Elderly
Health, Disability and Social welfare
Safety, First Aid
The Environment, Animals
Justice and Human Rights
Local community or neighbourhood groups
Citizens’ Groups
Hobbies / Recreation / Arts/ Social clubs
Trade Union Activity
Signed a petition
Attended a public meeting or rally
Attended a public demonstration or protest
Citizenship survey 2007
Type of unpaid help given to groups
Sex
Percentage
Raising or handling money/taking part in sponsored events
Men
20.3
Women
24.6***
Men
12.3
Women
10.3**
Men
19.5
Women
20.3
Men
6.5
Women
9.8***
Men
6.2
Women
7.2*
Men
9.1
Women
7.3***
Men
6.6
Women
7.7*
Men
10.1
Women
7.5***
Men
6.5***
Women
5*
Men
3.8
Women
3.8
Men
10.3
Women
16.8***
Leading the group/ member of a committee
Organising or helping to run an activity or event
Visiting people
Befriending /mentoring people
Giving advice/information/counselling
Secretarial, admin or clerical work
Providing transport/driving
Representing
Campaigning
Other practical help (e.g. helping out at school, shopping)
Engagement with politics
Political interest
Political knowledge
• Women routinely found to be less
interested in formal politics
• But it depends how you ask
• Women generally found to be less
knowledgeable
• But it depends how knowledge is
measured (Guessing/risk taking, useful
knowledge, gendered knowledge)
Political talk
• Women less interested in political talk
(Verba et al 1997)
• Women often talk with women and
men with men (Huckfeldt and Sprague
1995)
• Women’s knowledge is often underestimated (Mendez and Osborn 2010)
• Women sometimes exclude themselves
fearing that they will not be persuasive
(Miller et al 1999)
Average general interest in
politics by sex and age group
Average interest in domestic politics,
by age group and sex
Does it matter?
• Justice alone
• Descriptive and substantive representation of women
The welfare state, domestic violence, childcare, equal pay
• Elite/mass connection in attitudes (Lovenduski and Norris 2003 &
Campbell, Childs and Lovenduski 2010)
Factors scores for hostility to traditional gender roles
by sex and birth cohort, 2001 & 2005 BES
Factors scores for attitudes to the descriptive
representation of women by sex and birth cohort,
2001 & 2005 BES
Hostility to traditional gender roles sex
and birth cohort, 2001 & 2005 BRS
Attitudes to equality guarantees by birth cohort and sex, 2001 &
2005 BRS
Role models?
• "the more that politicians are made visible by national news coverage, the more
likely adolescent girls are to indicate an intention to be politically active" 233
(Campbell and Wolbrecht 2006).
• “where there are more female members of parliament (MPs), adolescent girls are
more likely to discuss politics with friends and to intend to participate in politics
as adults, and adult women are more likely to discuss and participate in politics.”
(Wolbrecht and Campbell 2007)
• Randomized natural experiment in India- young women’s educational attainment
and career aspirations were raised in districts with a woman
representative(Beaman et al. 2012)
• In US gender gap in political knowledge shrinks to zero when share of women in
the state legislature exceeds 20% (Wolak and McDevitt 2011)
• Wives and mothers sit at the centre of households: their partisanship influences
the partisanship of everyone else, and the others affect them.(Zuckerman,
Dasovic and Fitzgerald 2007)
What can be done?
Politics is a minority past-time for all sectors of society and we should remember that the
differences between men and women are small and diminishing so we must avoid making
essentialist claims (gender overlap). But there are some differences (gender gap).
• Which came first the woman politician or the woman activist? (A virtuous circle). There is
evidence of role model effects so we must use the women we have in politics and public
life to mentor and recruit other women.
• Maintain and create majority women spaces.
• Women are significantly less likely than men to receive political encouragement to run
for office (Fox and Lawless, 2004: 275) and they are less likely to think they are qualified.
So we must ask them!
• Focus (although not exclusively) on the issues and topics that particularly motivate
women (education, healthcare, children, pensions, caring for the elderly).
• More focus on consensus rather than focusing exclusively on conflict
• Build confidence in knowledge and efficacy