PLACE DU PETIT-SACONNEX
1211 GENEVA 19, SWITZERLAND
| INTER-PARLIAMENTARY UNION PLACE DU PETIT-SACONNEX 1211 GENEVA 19, SWITZERLAND |
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Press release of the Inter-Parliamentary Union
Why do we need women in politics? What difference does their presence make to politics and society in general? The Inter-Parliamentary Union put these questions to 187 women politicians from 65 countries. The interviewees represented the widest possible range of ideological and personal backgrounds. Their replies, as well as the life stories of a few women from each of the world's major regions and cultures, are prominently featured in the survey "Politics: Women's Insight" presented by IPU today at United Nations Headquarters in New York, where the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women is meeting to evaluate the follow-up to the Beijing Conference and to prepare for the celebration of International Woman's Day. The IPU survey, based on extensive written interviews in which women politicians from all over the world speak frankly of their personal experiences as party members, parliamentarians or members of government as well as of their vision of society, clearly demonstrates the world's growing awareness that it takes two to achieve democracy. The survey reminds us that, as a saying from the Comoros puts it, "you cannot clap with only one hand". By supplementing the women's replies to the interview questionnaire with a review of the world situation in terms of the presence of women in parliament and in government today and in history, the survey offers what really amounts to the full story of women's qualitative impact on political and electoral processes and practices as well as on the welfare of society as a whole. It shows that a slow revolution in politics - a revolution more or less pronounced depending on the culture concerned - is in progress. Ms. Najma Heptulla, President of the Council of the Inter-Parliamentary Union and Vice-President of the Rajya Sabha (Indian State Council), believes that "there is a greater participation of women today at all levels of decision-making and a greater commitment by governments to remove gender discrimination from the system. The feminist movement around the world has gathered momentum and it is encouraging to see that even men have come to accept women as equal partners in the progress of civilisation". Describing the participation by women in the decision-making process as "an international priority", Ms. Angela E.V. King, UN Assistant Secretary-General and Special Advisor on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women, said the June Special Session of the General Assembly, which will review and appraise the Beijing Platform of Action, will reinforce the need for sustained action to ensure the advancement of women in all areas. She said "the demand for equal participation by women in leadership and decision-making positions is not just a demand for simple justice, but a necessary condition for women's issues to be taken into account. Anything less than equality for women in this area is a "deficit of democracy" and we must work to ensure that there is equal participation with men. We can no longer exclude those who represent the interests and concerns of over half of the world's population from the corridors of power where decisions are made". For his part, the Secretary General of IPU, Mr. Anders B. Johnsson, does not hesitate to affirm that wherever they are present in sufficient numbers to represent an embryonic political force, "women are beginning to initiate a change in the political environment and decision-making process and to influence the outcome of political activity". He nevertheless points out that "the political world, which is intrinsically conflictual, is still broadly unwelcoming to women. They have to fight hard for every inch of ground and their encounter with power politics, the constraints of party discipline and disparaging media coverage is often a bitter experience. Women have to learn the rules of the game and the language of politics while fully preserving their identity as women and avoiding the pitfall of demeaning imitation of their male counterparts. They are also engaged in a permanent 'balancing act', seeking to do political work without sacrificing their family life and incurring severe criticism for putting their political ambitions before the welfare of their children". The clash between politics and sexual stereotyping is not yet a thing of the past. The women politicians interviewed say that while gender equality is generally embodied in the law, the obstacles and difficulties faced by women in politics are clear evidence that the principles of parity and equality in a democracy continue to be thwarted by well-established sets of rules and practices which have been developed in the absence of women. These difficulties cannot, however, be solely blamed on men: "women, too, may act against women's interests through being blinded by selfish interests and ambitions or overwhelmed by the divisiveness of politics". Because political life continues to be full of rivalries, the questionnaire responses were obtained and reproduced on the express condition that speaking freely would not create any difficulties for the persons concerned. This is why the authors of the survey chose to indicate only the region of origin and not the individual identity of the women interviewed. The data were analysed by Dr. Marilyn Waring, formerly her country's youngest woman parliamentarian, now Associate Professor of Social Policy at Massey University, New Zealand; Ms. Gaye Greenwood, an expert in women's questions from the same country; and Ms. Christine Pintat, Assistant Secretary General of the Inter-Parliamentary Union. The authors would have preferred the "burden of proof" not to rest on women alone; it was quite clear to them that the same questions should be put to men. But the Inter-Parliamentary Union is aware that women are, in most cases, still expected to justify the need for and the efficacy of their participation in politics, and anyway the survey was devised to be debated by both men and women. The survey focuses, in ten chapters, on ways in which the new style and new insights introduced by women makes a difference in politics. Another interesting feature, in the authors' view, is that the survey opens "a window seldom opened - and in any case never yet opened so wide - on the day-to-day experience of women holding political posts, their views of society and of the impact of relations between men and women on the conduct of politics, their hopes, the moral and material limitations they encounter and how they reconcile their political commitment with the demands of their private lives and their emotional life". Excerpts from the study will be found in annex to this press release. This important study was produced by IPU with the financial support of the Swedish International Development Corporation Agency (SIDA). IPU was founded in 1889 and has its headquarters in Geneva. Its membership includes 139 affiliated national parliaments and 5 associated regional parliamentary assemblies. It promotes partnership between men and women as one of the cornerstones of democracy. In 1994 it adopted a Plan of Action to remedy existing imbalances in the participation of men and women in political life. IPU has a Liaison Office at United Nations Headquarters in New York.
A press conference will be held at UN Headquarters in New York to launch the study on 6 March at 11.15 a.m. The following personalities will be present to answer questions from the media:
ANNEX
Excerpts from the study Politics: the women's view What do women want? "Solutions, not power" is the view spontaneously expressed by nearly all of the participants. "Women are, all in all, less adversarial and more consensus-driven [than men], seeking solutions to problems rather than scoring points", explains a woman from Western Europe. "A more consultative and consensus-based approach to problem-solving. A focus on community rebuilding and creating real security and opportunity for citizens," says a respondent from the Pacific. The survey analyses women's motivations for entering politics. These fall essentially into four categories: a natural interest in or a vision for society; the family background; the current political circumstances of the country or region (war, political or economic upheaval); and the desire to transfer locally-acquired experience to the national level. It also examines the various channels of women's access to politics and elective posts (the political party channel in 80% of cases, but also the NGO channel, the feminist movement, trade union activity, professional background, family circumstances) and considers the role of cultural values and gender in the context of election campaigns. The authors conclude that the presence of women makes the political process broader and richer as well as more honest and transparent, and that political action becomes more sensitive to the needs of the population, especially of women and the most disadvantaged sectors of society. The result, as two women from West Africa - echoed by 80% of the respondents - point out, is that "thanks to women the public is beginning to trust in politics again"; "public faith in women comes from the fact that the public often recognises that women work hard and seek to achieve concrete results". At the same time, one of them adds: "I also observe, though, that the public is less tolerant of female failure". Under pressure from women, positive changes in political culture have taken place 86% of the respondents claim that their participation in the political process has changed the nature of politics by causing positive developments in both the form and the substance of political behaviour as well as in the methods used and the results achieved. Among the main effects of women's entry on the political stage, the respondents draw special attention to the profound, if still slow, evolution of political culture as evidenced, in particular, by language and mores. "There has been a virtual elimination of sexist language. There used to be incidents in our Parliament where women MPs were called 'slut', 'bitch', 'baby'. A woman MP was laughed at for raising the issue of violence against women. There is still a tendency to discount the contribution when women raise issues of particular relevance to women", comments a respondent from North America. "The men are more careful. Their attitude has changed. There will be more moderation, less passion and more objectivity", says a woman politician from West Africa. And an interviewee from Central Asia says that "the presence of women in Parliament brings about restraint in men's behaviour. They speak more correctly and more politely". "I've noticed that the participation of women leads to less ritualised speaking, more accessible to the people. Women are 'humanising' the political world. They are also unmasking pretentious attitudes", reports a woman from Western Europe, while another from Central America comments that "very few know how to use a type of language based on equality". Speaking about male practices, the respondents complain of underhand agreements, score-settling, character assassination of opponents, lying and other negative practices which often bring political life into disrepute and tend to justify the public's poor opinion of politicians. Women in politics: what difference to society? 81% of the women interviewed think that their perception of politics is different from men's and 92.6% agree that greater participation by women would bring about change. Women's long march towards parity and a place on the political arena does seem to have made some important differences to society. The survey shows that, besides changes of a more concrete nature, there has been a radical shift in people's perception of the role of women. A West African woman sums up this major development in the following terms: "We can say that one of the qualitative effects of women's political action is that men have become aware of the role of women. Women today are becoming actors and even leading actors on the political stage". Elsewhere in the survey, particularly in Chapter 3, are included examples of individual and collective political action by women in different countries and fields. They show that tangible results reflecting improvements for society at large and especially for women and the most disadvantaged sectors of society have been achieved, above all, in such areas as social services, gender equality, control of violence against women and children, employment, support services and the environment, as well as - in certain contexts - arms control and conflict resolution. The examples are drawn from South Africa, a pioneering country in many respects, where "women in Parliament have led the search for change and have firmly influenced policy, have ensured that gender issues are on the national stage and have developed strategies and frameworks for integrating gender into major policy decisions", as well as from Germany, Australia, Canada, El Salvador, Ethiopia, the Russian Federation, Greece, Ireland, Israel, Jordan, New Zealand, Peru and other countries. However, 94% of the respondents think that the extent of change depends largely on the number of women participating in the political decision-making process. For 75% among them, this factor is even more decisive than the time factor, although both play an important role. Women politicians and the media "The media can make or break a woman politician", says one of the respondents - and this especially where the media fail to discard traditional sexual stereotypes and, instead of focusing their attention on women's political activities, are interested mostly in their feminine identity, their looks or their private life. The women also blame the media for "tending to focus on women's issues rather than on the problem being presented". "Women are frequently shown in the media as concerned about women's or social issues and are not often reported when commenting on other issues, e.g. economics, transport or the budget," remarks a woman from the Pacific region. While practically all the respondents feel that they have a special responsibility towards women, they also consider themselves to be responsible towards all citizens, men and women alike. Some respondents, in particular those from Asia, Africa and Latin America, admit, however, that the fact of being women works out to their advantage rather than their disadvantage. A West African woman says: "The curiosity of the press has been aroused by my status as a woman politician. I am overwhelmed every day with requests for interviews and articles of all kinds". At the other end of the scale, women have so much become part of the ordinary "political landscape" that a woman from a Nordic country can say: "My relationship with the media is not as a woman politician - just a politician. It is very good! No problems". Women's views on democracy, equality and power today In 1997, the Inter-Parliamentary Union adopted a Universal Declaration on Democracy which proclaims that "the achievement of democracy presupposes a genuine partnership between men and women in the conduct of the affairs of society in which they work in equality and complementarity, drawing mutual enrichment from their differences". Yet when analysing the situation in their political and cultural environment, the respondents found that there was still a large gap between theory and practice. They did not deny that women as well as men could have a taste for power or be prone to inter-personal or inter-ideological rivalries. "Many women reach positions of power behaving like men and giving no consideration to the needs of women. In that case, access to power becomes irrelevant to the objective of achieving a true democracy," says a respondent from Central America. They complained, however, of the many obstacles men put in their way, especially as regards access to positions of responsibility or inclusion in electoral lists. "Men's resistance is still very strong". "The problem are the unwritten rules. The rules are written down in the political parties' statutes but the practices do not favour women", was the comment of women from Western Europe. "There is no formal unfairness but men club together to get their pals elected to party posts, particularly if extra remuneration is attached," a woman from Southern Africa observes. "There are some kinds of traditions in the old political parties. They are the 'old boys' network'", says a woman from South America. And an Asian woman adds: "The number of women politicians decreases as the level of responsibility goes up". "Women actively participate in the same way as men, but they don't manage to more upwards, always holding subordinate positions in political organisations and on electoral lists", says a West African woman. "Although the rules and practices do not prevent women from running for decision-making posts, they are not elected or supported for these posts. In my country no party has ever had a woman party leader", comments a woman from South America. "The party is not structurally receptive to women, and furthermore, parties in general are somewhat hostile to the incorporation of women", says a Nordic woman whose view is shared by 50% of the respondents. But a Party Chief Whip from Eastern Europe considers that "if decision-making positions were distributed in a balanced manner between men and women, the quality of the work and the working climate of politics would be enhanced". Many of the respondents recognise, however, that many men are sympathetic to the idea of greater equality and are trying hard to promote it. Equality and democracy Whatever their cultural or ideological background, 84% of the respondents were convinced that equality was the only possible basis for partnership between men and women in politics. Thus, for example, a Western European woman does not hesitate to affirm that "a democracy which excludes women, or in which women are represented only marginally, is not a real democracy … women's participation in policy-making is a question of justice and equality". "Equality between the sexes is the only democratic way - and the way to ensure that different kinds of experience are represented at all levels" , says a woman from a Nordic country. "Men and women's vision is different and … the method of developing political action is also different. I think it is important that there should be room in politics for both views, as they are not contradictory but rather mutually enriching", says a woman from Central America. "Women's participation in public affairs is central to the functioning and strengthening of democracy and also crucial to the struggle against oppression", comments another respondent from the same region. 77% of the participants thought that prevailing cultural values and gender roles were among the factor responsible for women's limited participation in national politics. Some essential practical adjustments The practical adjustments reported or advocated by women in order to make political life more open to women are many and varied. The first concern of women in politics is to reconcile their political life with family commitments, but the political party is rare that takes account of this "new" factor, never taken into account at all where the political arena is wholly dominated by men. At the parliamentary level, the creche or day nursery services available on the premises in Nordic countries to MPs who are mothers of small children are still only a dream for most women parliamentarians in other parts of the world. The same applies to the times at which political meetings and sessions could be held so as to give women MPs a better chance of combining their political duties with their private lives. As a result, almost all the respondents admit to being torn between the wish to lead their lives as wives and mothers and the wish to engage in useful and effective political activity. They also describe the services and facilities that have been or should be introduced in parliamentary premises designed for and by men in order to enable women parliamentarians to do their work as comfortably and conveniently as men. Several respondents mention that a woman presiding officer can make a great different in this respect and that these issues are not as trivial and secondary as might appear: for example, women parliamentarians have often had to fight to get women's toilets located near the central hall in which voting takes place rather than at the other end of the building. Machinery to be introduced: quotas 48% of the respondents indicated that their party had adopted a quota or internal guideline designed to ensure that the party fielded a minimum proportion of women in national elections. While the view on quotas was far from unanimous, many of the women admitted that quotas play an important role in advancing women's political or even social empowerment. They emphasise, however, that such measures are merely palliative and must not be allowed to create the impression that women are less capable than their male colleagues. Many believe that if the idea of equality is to become firmly implanted in political structures, party statutes and platforms must be reviewed so as to reflect the principle of gender equality. They also emphasise the importance of establishing gender equality committees within political parties and in parliament. Above all, they point out that the presence of women on all parliamentary committees is one of the main keys to future change. "In [my country's] Parliament, the most important and exacting work takes place in committees. The hearings on proposed legislation and the opportunities to amend bills before reporting back, the cross-examinations on departmental appropriations, the investigations and hearing of evidence on special enquiries. MPs are 'free' from the party whip and machine and from intimidation by Ministers and incumbents to ask awkward questions, even if they are then forced into line on the votes", a woman politician from the Pacific region typically reports. The survey respondents: a few facts and figures
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