are women less political than men?
As seems to be the way with comments threads, what started out as a post about Destiny's candidate launch by Idiot/Savant has got me thinking about political gender differences.
My instinct is that the reason there are less women in public life goes back to the ancient division of labour - women were active in the private sphere (meaning the home, not business as it does now), whilst men had lives outside that, in the public sphere. It's taken a very long time for women to significantly break that down.
Really it's only been this century, in NZ anyway, that it's become common place, and acceptable, for women to work outside the home, to run for political office, to be in the media and to have opinions that are voiced publically.
But centuries of staying close to the hearth are hard to overcome. There are still women who think that we XXers should all just stay at home and not bother our pretty little heads about anything other than babies and getting out our Master's slippers and pipe the second he comes in the door.
Many women of around my age are wrestling with the whole family/career dialectic. Can we really have both these days, or were our grandmothers right - the attempt to be all things winds up in achieving nothing? But that's an issue for a whole other post.
I don't think women are inherently less political than men. But we do tend to be less confident. And from what I've seen of politics it takes a lot of confidence, some might even say arrogance, to put yourself out there.
Perhaps women interact socially in a different way from men (although again I would say this is because of socialisation, rather than any hard wired difference). Politics is very nasty, very bruising, and perhaps a lot of women think "bugger that for a game of soldiers."
The Catch 22 there is that politics is never going to change unless people with a different approach get involved and start playing (and spinning) a different way.
Past musings about the differences between the sexes and things of that nature:
- honking at women is not a compliment (to either of you)
- where are all the chick political bloggers? which was followed up some months later by a second post, chicken chicks - thankfully this situation has changed a bit recently
9 comments:
I'm totally speculating but I'm not sure there are less women in public life per se. There are lots of women involved as Plunkett volunteers an on school boards. I wonder if maybe many women channel their community, civic mindedness in other directions...Keeping it close to home.
There are plenty of women activists in party politics too.
In the end I think a lot of women lack the confidence to get involved and underestimate their abilities.
well the National list is not exactly over-endowed with women either.
I think that to a certain extent women have been socialised to think that we don't want power and that we're not interested in that stuff (and of course if we are we must be pretend-men) and also there are some men who actively chase women away from pursuing those things. The number of times I have been treated as if I'm acceptable to make the tea and scones, or take the minutes, but not ok to chair a meeting (although i've chaired a lot of meetings before)... Partly it's my own lack of confidence, but also it's this expectation from some men (and some women to be fair) that I can't do it because i'm a chick.
sigh.
which comes first Sock, socialisation or the nature of our brain development? Can't they influence each other?
Fact: As a woman, your chances for success in politics are infinitely greater in the National Party than they are in the Alliance. :p
One of the older guys I used to work with told me never to admit to knowing how to use the photocopier or to offer to make coffee and I think it was good advice. I don't ruthlessly stick to it but I do consciously make an effort not to conform to traditional female submissive role expectations in the workplace. I haven't ever been given a hard time about it. I don't think there are that many people today in "the mainstream" who are delibrately and consciously trying to keep women "in their place."
It is hard to break conditioning though. One thing I've noticed a lot of women (including me) have a problem with is in pushing for promotion or more money and that is due to lack of confidence.
how do you buck the system MTNW? i find it very hard to not be submissive, not so much in a confrontation (no problem with challenging authority when they are being arses) but in a more general sense I find it hard. particularly in new situations, and first impressions last.
is raising confidence something we need to do as individual women (and men, i am sure it is an issue for some men too) or should we be looking for more of a structural solution? or both?
i look around schools and i see that the vast bulk of teachers, and support staff, are women. but often i also notice that the principal, and the senior teachers, are disproportionately men, and yet teachers are people who usually have a lot of confidence.
I think it must be a personality thing, too, Span. When I was employed by others (ie not employed in my own business), I had no problems being assertive. Seemed to scare my female boss too.
Maybe martial arts training will help? I found that very helpful for getting to know the male mind.
Span- Not that I'm always 100% confident by any means but as I've gotten older I've gotten more so. I've stop assuming people are more knowledgeable or competent than me until they prove it for one thing.
I suppose in general raising confidence is both personal and structural.I think seeking out good mentors and role models is important. I find it is confidence boosting if someone I respect seems to respect my views and abilities. And conversely its also important to try to be a mentor or at least try to be supportive, encouraging and friendly to younger women/people coming up behind. The each one teach one sort of approach to structural change.
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