Importance of women's political empowerement - Gurmai Zita

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Judit Tánczos Importance of women's political empowerment Forever assistants? Challenges of women’s political empowerment “Jean Roatta, former UMP MP, who left the National Assembly last month in order to become MEP, was very much impressed, upon his arrival, by the crowd in Strasbourg's Parliament, much younger, much more feminine and with more colours than in Palais Bourbon. "Very interesting, all those assistants..." he turned to Brice Hortefeux. "Those are not assistants, but MEPs", Hortefeux warned him cheerfully.” 1 Women’s political involvement is yet another issue in the European Union, where equality exists in law, but does not follow in fact. And even if numbers might slowly improve, the quote above shows very well, that the stereotypes and associations on gender roles are even more difficult to change. The current economic and financial crisis does not only mean a risk because budget cuts will largely deteriorate the infrastructure effecting women’s life (eg. less positions in the public sector, negative effect on child care facilities, cuts in the health sector). These measures can also easily be interpreted as symbols of one’s view on society. When these changes have the effect that women’s place in the public sphere gets more and more limited, it is tempting to give up, and - in accordance with the traditional, conservative gender roles – opt for a less ambitious public role or retreat to the private sphere. To begin with, I would like to complement and further think about some of the elements discussed at the workshop organised by the Foundation for European Progressive Studies (FEPS) and the CEE Network on Gender Issues on 26th November 2011. Then it will be described what role FEPS plays and what added value it represents in efficiently supporting women’s empowerment. 1 L’agréable surprise d’un depute au Parlement Européen. Le Parisien, 21 January 2012 http://www.leparisien.fr/indiscrets/politique/l-agreable-surprise-d-un-depute-au-parlement-europeen-21-01- 2012-1822265.php 81
82 Forever assistants? Challenges of women’s political empowerment Changing image on surface vs. changing gender roles Activism is of great importance when it comes to the advancement of women’s political empowerment and changing the perception of gender roles. Due to intense cooperation in the past decades, there is a huge toolkit available for lobbying. However, the use of this toolkit far too often bumps into walls of prejudice and stereotypes. Therefore, I would like to firstly evoke some elements of the debate about gender roles, which have been there for a while, but certainly their further discussion is necessary. The reason is often evoked, that women should be more politically active (both in terms of civic participation and as politicians), as they have a naturally different way of doing politics. According to this belief, women are more empathetic, peaceful and careful. However, taking a look at politicians like Marine Le Pen, Krisztina Morvai or Michelle Bachman, there is no need for intense research to refute this argument. This argument based on supposed behavioural differences can be quite harmful in the process of women’s political empowerment, as it reinforces stereotypes of classical gender roles. The reason behind women’s political empowerment is rather linked with the debate about values in our society, and the way notions like freedom, emancipation and equality are interpreted. Several male politicians use equality, meaning the legal availability of equal opportunities, as an excuse for maintaining the current status quo. Their argument can be summarised as follows. The possibilities are there, women could freely decide to enter politics. But of course, if willingness and ambition is lacking, it would be against their free will to push them in another direction. Therefore, in order to change the perception of gender roles in society also on the level of bias and sub-consciousness, progressives should promote a new interpretation of freedom, meaning emancipation as an equal member of a community. 2 This is the first step if we would like to change institutional mechanisms, and effectively implement the toolkit available. Interpreting women’s political empowerment in this way is important, as it sees change in the way of doing politics based on supporting transformation in societal attitudes. Having noted this, it should be seen that it gives an important argument against these politicians cynically wondering about women's ambitions. It forms a solid part of the reasoning why gender quotas are necessary, amongst other fields, in politics. It is an efficient and supportable element of the toolbox with possible encouraging effect, at least in the beginning of the procedure, when institutional mechanisms are still missing. But again, one should be aware of the importance of the construction of arguments for quotas. Would the empowerment of a critical mass of women to participate actively in political life in itself change the perception of gender roles? If most of these women choose to continue representing the traditional values, based on the traditional interpretation of gender roles, change would be hardly expected. It 2 Skrzypek, A. (2011) The core values for the Next Social Deal, [in:] Progressive values for the 21st century, (eds.)E. Stetter, K. Duffek & A. Skrzypek, FEPS
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4 Contents Rovana PLUMB Importance
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Daša Šašić Šilović Foreword o
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Zita Gurmai Member of the European
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12 Foreword of the publisher backla
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Besima Boric Importance of women's
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Sylvie Guillaume Women’s empowerm
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Zita Gurmai Importance of women's p
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Page 32: Edit Herczog Member of the European
Page 35 and 36: 34 Political empowerment of women t
Page 38 and 39: Mija Javornik Importance of women's
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Page 44 and 45: Sonja Lokar Importance of women's p
Page 48: Sanja Major Adviser, City Office fo
Page 51 and 52: 50 Being a young woman in Croatia t
Page 54 and 55: Thomas Maes Importance of women's p
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Page 60 and 61: Kaysa Penny Importance of women's p
Page 62: Rovana Plumb Member of the European
Page 65 and 66: 64 Importance of women's political
Page 68: Professor Dr.h.c.Christa Randzio-Pl
Page 71 and 72: 70 Women in Politics political solu
Page 74: Brigita Schmögnerová former Vice
Page 77 and 78: 76 Women’s voice to be heard The
Page 80: Judit Tánczos Policy Advisor, Foun
Page 86: Patrizia Toia Member of the Europea
Page 89 and 90: 88 Greater equality for all If we a
Page 92: Britta Thomsen Member of the Europe
Page 95 and 96: 94 The importance of political empo
Page 98 and 99: Attila Benedek - Márta Bonifert Im
Page 102 and 103: Closing remarks Importance of women
Page 104 and 105: Annex Importance of women's politic
Page 106 and 107: Dan JØRGENSEN Denmark Socialdemokr
Page 108 and 109: António Fernando CORREIA DE CAMPOS
Page 110 and 111: Richard HOWITT United Kingdom Labou
Page 114 and 115: Annex II Charts and figures Women i
Page 118 and 119: Republic of Korea Importance of wom
Page 128 and 129: Gender quotas in the EU Source: Der
Page 130: CEE Network for Gender Issues The C
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