Women should be supported in political offices
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Women in leadership
In history, women were rarely included in political issues. In fact, women did not have rights to vote or even to vie for electro position. Women were mostly portrayed in stereotypical roles such as mothers and wives. Hence women have overcome a lot of challenges so as to gain these rights. Despite a significant progress having being made in the last two centuries women are still underrepresented in political offices and other leadership positions worldwide. Though there are a few women who have joined politics and successfully run for even the high offices such as the presidency, there is still enormous room for improvement for women to be supported so that they can join politics. Having more women in elected positions upholds democratic values, and it also promotes fairness. Various studies have also indicated that having more women legislatures makes a great difference regarding the policies that get passed. Women lawmakers tend to contribute to the formulation of more progressive policies than their male counterparts. Women contribute to policies that deal with things such as the comprehensive support for families, environment, violence prevention and macroeconomic management (“19th Global Women In Leadership (WIL) Economic Forum” n.p.). Women tend to introduce more bills than men that deal with issues such as health, civil rights, education, and labor. As a result, nations that tend to elect more women to political offices and other leadership positions end up having better economic performance.
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Hence it is necessary for more women to be encouraged to join politics by addressing the challenges that they face since women in political leadership contributes to the growth of the economy of any nation.
Even though women represent half of the global population, those in leadership positions are significantly low since leadership posts are male dominated. Hence, this means those important decisions that affect women are made without their voice being heard. Research conducted shows that women across the globe make twenty-five percent of the members of parliament. Ten and nine women were serving as head of state and head of government as of September 2016 respectively (“Forbes Welcome” n.p.). Rwanda leads worldwide in political representation of women in political offices having had two-thirds of female leaders in the lower house. In the United States, representation of women in political offices continues to be low compared to countries such as Rwanda and Bolivia. In 2016 the Congress had only 19.4 percent of five hundred and thirty-five seats and 20 percent of the hundred seats in the Senate. Of the over thirty thousand cities in the United, only 18.8 percent have women mayors in 2016.
Women are still underrepresented in elected positions across the country. The United States continue to lose ground compared to other nations on women representation in political offices. The US is ranked ninety-eight in the globe when comparisons are made concerning women in the state. This shows that fewer women are joining politics in America (“Forbes Welcome” n.p.). Hillary Clinton made history by becoming the first woman who was close to being elected as a female president in America. The fact that Clinton did not win portrays the difficulties that women face when elected in political offices. Clinton represents the possibilities that women can achieve in politics having served in various political offices. At the same, her loss to Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election shows the challenges that women will have to overcome so as to win electro positions in America.
People should support women in politics because of various benefits states will have when women take leadership roles. Katherine Phillips carried a research that pointed out that women leaders contribute a 6.8 percent greater GDP growth than nations with a top male leader. Female leaders have democratic and involved approaches than male leaders. Further, voters tend to be more confident in female than male leaders since they are cooperative and have capacities to handle difficult situations. People also support women in politics since they feel that it is fair and democratic for women to be elected to political offices especially since they consist half of the world’s population. Hence people feel failing to have a low number of women in leadership positions means that there is a significant percent of the world’s populations whose participation in decision making is not well represented. Supporting women in politics mean more women will vie for political offices thereby granting them opportunities to make major decisions in their societies (Ball and Ball 24). Women in politics are supported since more policies that affect women, children and families are made when women are elected to political offices. Women and children rights `are promoted more by women. They tend to be more concerned with the interests of the communities because of their close involvement in community life than their male counterparts. Women are more sympathetic to concerns of the poor and the minority, and hence people feel that they make better leaders than their male counterparts.
Women also tend to have better reasons for joining politics such as addressing a problem they may have faced or seen somebody else go through. The fact women leaders also contribute the support of women in politics is especially effective in promoting honest government. This is because countries that have elected more women in political position have similarly low levels of corruption in their governments. At the same time, people also support women since they are more committed to peace building since they suffer greatly when a country experiences armed conflicts.
At the same time, people also have various reasons as to why they fail to support women in politics. People feel that a woman role is that of taking care of her family. There is a notion that women are entitled to be mothers and wives but not leaders. In most instances, women who joined politics were viewed as having abandoned their families so as to join politics. People’s opinion is that a woman cannot be able to balance her family and her work in an elected position. Hence constraining women to their traditional role as family caregivers is one of the reasons why people do not support women in politics. Another reason is that women cannot be able to make crucial decisions that most political positions require. They cannot be able to handle the pressures and challenges that come with most of the leadership positions. Such gender stereotyping of women are the main reason that people fail to support women in politics.
In addition to gender, stereotyping women in politics go through other challenges. Women have to work harder than men so as to prove to be good leaders. For women to be deemed qualified for a certain political office, they have to meet higher standards compared to their male colleges. This means that women are elevated to higher standards than men. Hence any slight mistake can cost a woman who is vying for a political office a great deal. Any minor mistake made by a woman is considered to mean that they are not qualified for the job. Another challenge is work-life balance. It is hard to balance their personal life with work since political offices demand a lot of time and dedication (McVay 32). This discourages a lot of women from joining politics since they feel that they will have to sacrifice being family women for their political life. The workload that a woman has to deal with while still taking care of her family is a lot. Hence most of the time will always be exhausted because of working for many hours and rarely resting. Such a life can be dangerous since one is likely to make mistakes while working due to exhaustion which can result at the end of her career in politics. At the same time, it may lead to chaos in their personal life. Another challenge that women face is hostility or non-inclusion from their male colleagues once elected. This means that they will not be consulted and they will often feel left out. For them to be consulted they have to prove themselves to even their male colleagues. The additional challenge is the lack of finances for campaigning. Women face a challenge of raising campaign funds than their male counterparts. People do not contribute to women since they often feel that they will fail (“Obstacles to Female Leadership | Pew Research Center” n.p.). Hence women who want to run for political are often left out since they do not have the finances. Women also face violence and discrimination when they run for political offices. They are assaulted both physically and emotionally by people who feel that women should not be leaders. In some countries, the hostile environment created by people towards women in politics discourages women from running for any political offices.
The society should support women who are various political fields in their countries. The society must stop gender stereotypes. Assuming that women cannot make good leaders leads to fewer women being elected to political positions. Support for females to join politics should also be at the party levels. Political parties should put in place policies and structures that ensure more women are nominated for different political positions (“Six Paradoxes Women Leaders Face in 2013” n.p.). Women should also have equal representation in party committees which will help create more internal female leadership. This will be a stepping stone for more women to run for public office.
To close the gender gap in politics more drastic measures need to be undertaken. Examples of such measures are in countries such as Sweden, and Finland where gender parity has been achieved to a great extent due to measures put in place. In these countries, their political parties prioritize the recruitment of women as candidates. At the same time, some parties have positive quotas that require half their candidates to be women. It will be difficult to implement measures proposed by political parties in the US to attain gender parity because of the prejudice that exists in political parties across the globe (“Women in Leadership – Women in Leadership – Open Programmes – Executive Education” n.p.). Having sensible policies in childcare and flexible working hours for legislators to be able to balance their work with their families can encourage more women to vie for political offices. Since women also fail to join politics due to financial constraints, it is important for having a support system for women who want to join politics but have no funds. Such can include organizations that fund women when they are vying for political offices. It is also important for the civil society to participate in advocating for the rights of women and supporting women in politics. Civil society organizations should advocate for women’s participation in political transition and governance and especially in countries going through post-conflict transitions (“Women in Leadership | The Guardian” n.p.). The community should be educated on the benefits of having more women in political offices. Once people understand the importance of women being equally represented in political offices, it will be easier for more women to be elected to political offices.
Youth involvement in politics can also encourage more women to join politics. It is important for the youth especially young women to know the importance of their voices being had especially on political issues. Involving them from an early age is important. They can be included in the community such as taking part in coming up with community policies. Encouraging young women to join in will help incorporate more women to join the political system. New ways should be explored to encourage young women to be leaders. These can include having training seminars for youth leaders. Having leadership programs for the youth will help them acquire the necessary skills to join politics, and at the same, they will have the necessary skills to deal with the challenges that may arise from joining politics. The young women can also have mentorship programs from other women who have entered politics. It will show them that it is possible to have successful careers in politics. Encouraging young women to join politics will ensure that the gender parity problem in politics is addressed more quickly and efficiently.
Even though women have achieved some bit of representation in political offices more still needs to be done so that gender parity can be achieved. The progress in achieving equal women representation is extremely slow and if more is not done it will take a millennium for gender parity to be achieved. The time to choose more women leaders is now. Empowering women to join politics and run for the political position will go a long way in changing the narrative on the number of women elected to political positions. It is important for people to know that empowering women is empowering the whole society. Women who are currently in leadership positions should make the necessary changes so that we can have more women join them. The benefits that everyone in the society gets from having women in leadership positions make the struggle to have more women leaders’ necessary. Addressing the challenges that women face when they join politics the statics on women in political and other leadership position will improve. It is important for all countries to flow examples such as Rwanda that have achieved tremendous gender parity. Women who have become heads of government such as Michelle Bachelet who is the president of Chile and Angela Merkel the chancellor in Germany demonstrate that women can be good top leaders.
Works Cited
“19th Global Women In Leadership (WIL) Economic Forum.” Naseba, www.naseba.com/what-we-do-/leadership-forum/global-wil-economic-forum/.Ball, Heather, and Heather Ball. Women Leaders Who Changed the World. Rosen Central, 2012.
“Forbes Welcome.” Forbes Welcome, www.forbes.com/sites/dinamedland/2016/03/07/todays-gender-reality-in-statistics-or-making-leadership-attractive-to-women/#2779db896255.
“Forbes Welcome.” Forbes Welcome, www.forbes.com/sites/kenrapoza/2016/04/21/the-real-reason-behind-the-impeachment-of-brazils-president-dilma-rousseff/#37c58f6759b3.
McVay, Lori A. Rural Women in Leadership: Positive Factors in Leadership Development. CABI, 2013.”Obstacles to Female Leadership | Pew Research Center.” Pew Research Center’s Social & Demographic Trends Project, www.pewsocialtrends.org/2015/01/14/chapter-3-obstacles-to-female-leadership/.
“Six Paradoxes Women Leaders Face in 2013.” Harvard Business Review, hbr.org/2013/01/six-paradoxes-women-leaders-fa.
“Women in Leadership – Women in Leadership – Open Programmes – Executive Education.” Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University, www.rsm.nl/executive-education/open-programmes/programmes/women-in-leadership/overview/.”Women in Leadership | The Guardian.” The Guardian, www.theguardian.com/women-in-leadership.
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