Ladies: why do you/do you not get involved in politics

CnaG

There have been a few threads on gender quotas recently (not to mention the "feminism" thread) which seem kind of circular and repetative.

It's been getting a bit frustrating, so I'd like to get back to basics and ask other women here why you do or do not get involved in politics, and maybe a bit about your experience. Don't be fooled by the username and avatar, I am female

By politics I don't just mean political parties and the State but also:
social movements (feminism, environmentalism, trade unions and the like)
advocacy groups (for businesses, charities, communities, schools, farmers...)
protest groups (anti-war, pro-life, gay pride, and the like)
signing petitions
and anything else you may think of as political

If we could keep it civil and steer largely clear of "studies done" and the gender quotas topic that'd be fantastic :cool: Genuinely curious with no particular agenda here, not trying to recruit anyone for anything

CnaG

Personally, I'm a recent member of the Labour party. I only joined in January, and mainly to canvass in the general election. I studied politics in college and thought long and hard before actually joining. Most of the other active members in my branch are men, so it was nice to find that a neighbouring branch was about 50/50. I also really enjoyed a Labour women event I went to recently. There were definitely a few women there who I'd like to see elected in the future.

Sounds a bit like a labour party political broadcast at the moment, but I'm looking forward to reading other people's contributions.

Have you ever been involved in or considered getting involved in a political group or party? Would you ever consider running for election?

Faith

For me, I might get involved in those things in a quiet way, but I'm not an activist. I have no interest in making them a focus in my life. I try to read threads here about stuff like feminism and I find it so painfully dull tbh. I don't think I'm outspoken enough to get heavily involved in any of the things you mention (and also because I just don't care that much ).

Malari

Same as Faith, really - I just don't care that strongly to try to convince anyone of my point of view. If I like a particular charity I donate anonymously. If I agree with a political party's policies I vote for them. It matters to me not one jot if the candidate is a man or a woman.

If a member of my family has been a victim of unfair treatment or sexism or bigotry I'll stand up for them, but in the wider scheme of things, I just don't see it as being important or interesting in my life to get involved in any sort of campaigning.

Pythia

My grandmother was involved in politics and always used to bring me along to stuff when I was younger. I really liked it so I did work experience in the headquarters. It was during the 2002 election and I ended up staying 5 weeks which gave me a great insight. I was 16 at this time and started going to meetings then. Helped a local candidate in 2004 who was really good and loved being part of a person's campaign. Canvassing can be nerve wracking but it's enjoyable and you feel good having changed someone's mind.

Joined the UCD branch then to get involved and make friends. Ended up becoming chair. I loved being able to talk to the politicians directly and being able to have a say in the policies of the organisation. Conferences are especially fun.

Got more involved in the local branch and less in the youth politics now I'm four years out of college. I'm on the constituency committee and attend meetings every month or so.

I'm not so much interested in things like political theory and more into the people aspect of it and getting good people elected. I don't agree with every single policy but the party is what suits me best.

I'd encourage anyone interested to join the party that they are interested in. I think it's worthwhile.

Stheno

Time in my case, I'm involved occasionally with girl geeks, but in the past ten years, most of my jobs have been of the type that I haven't been able to commit to any regular evenings so I tend not to get involved in stuff as I'll end up not participating. I am involved in several groups related to my profession, which also takes away from my free time.

E.g. I'd like to join Toastmasters, which imo is an alternative way to get to know people involved in local politics from my experience of it in the past, and sound them out. However my local Toastmasters is on a Tuesday night. Between now and the end of June I will not be home due to work on at least three of those Tuesdays, meaning I won't join as I can't commit.

Same with other hobbies/sports tbh.

Ickle Magoo

I was and am involved with several "causes" - some of which could be considered political although as I am not irish, my involvement in conventional irish politics is pretty much limited to supporting my local candidate (and friend) when they stand.

Why don't women get involved? Time constraints are certainly a very real problem, I work, I have a partner and two kids - and I am currently doing two degrees and I try to spend as much time dossing on Boards as I can - which doesn't really leave much time for anything else, I am already the quintessential juggling uni-cyclist and that is given that both my study and work are flexible. Take flexibility out of the equation and it's not so much not of interest as just not feasible as a realistic option.

As I said on the gender quota thread, I think politics is an inherently unattractive career prospect for most women. If I want to be belittled, chastised, ridiculed, publicly humiliated and parry volleys of embittered semantics I just post on Boards...I jest...well, actually, that's probably not that far from the truth and if we assume Boards is a microcosm of the kind of reception women wanting to discuss issues that affect them get, another good reason why many women are put off entering any political sphere.

Annasopra

Would anyone agree with the 5 Cs being barriers

International research shows that the same or similar challenges face women in to
entry into politics throughout the world, summarised as follows:



o Childcare – women are more likely to have this responsibility


o Cash – women have less access to resources than men


o Confidence – women are less likely to go forward for selection


o Culture – a gendered culture is prevalent even within left-wing parties


o Candidate selection procedures – the processes by which political
parties select candidates has been identified as posing a significant
obstacle to women’s political participation

More explanations on pages 11-18 of the Oireachtas report on womens participation in 2009

Stheno

Johnnymcg wrote: »

Would anyone agree with the 5 Cs being barriers



More explanations on pages 11-18 of the Oireachtas report on womens participation in 2009

Not in my case tbh, I've no kids, while I'm not rich I do earn a decent wage, confidence wise, I speak publicly at work related events and take positions within professional organisations on committees etc if offered, culture wise I work in a very heavily male dominated environment, and am used to doing so for the past 14 years. So in that regard I can't see politics being any different and from being involved in college didn't see it then.

The candidate selection procedure possibly but I don't know much about that.

I can see how it would apply in the case of women in general, one area that I think reflects this is that you will often find women involved at a grassroots level but rarely amongst the decision makers/higher levels. Trade unions imo are particularly reflective of this, although they have possibly been the most influential voice in bringing about greater equality for women, all of the heads of the Trade unions in Ireland are male, even that of the Irish Nurses Organisation.

Edit: I think there is possibly another element along with the five c's and that is the public face that you have to wear for politics. Women can achieve in other spheres without having the "public glare" upon them that ensues with politics, for me that actually would be an issue, I prefer to lead a quiet life

Malari

No, my reasons would be outside those 5. I'll add a 6th 'C': Couldn't be bothered ;-)

I'm wondering what the processes and obstacles are for a woman though. I can't really look at that Oireachtas document on a mobile device!

Annasopra

Stheno wrote: »

Not in my case tbh, I've no kids, while I'm not rich I do earn a decent wage, confidence wise, I speak publicly at work related events and take positions within professional organisations on committees etc if offered, culture wise I work in a very heavily male dominated environment, and am used to doing so for the past 14 years. So in that regard I can't see politics being any different and from being involved in college didn't see it then.

The candidate selection procedure possibly but I don't know much about that.

I can see how it would apply in the case of women in general, one area that I think reflects this is that you will often find women involved at a grassroots level but rarely amongst the decision makers/higher levels. Trade unions imo are particularly reflective of this, although they have possibly been the most influential voice in bringing about greater equality for women, all of the heads of the Trade unions in Ireland are male, even that of the Irish Nurses Organisation.

Fair point but college politics is very different to real world politics

Stheno

Johnnymcg wrote: »

Fair point but college politics is very different to real world politics

True, but as part of college politics I got involved in real world politics via elections etc, and got some visibility into it. The workload and the need to be available for local/national events would be something else that I'd potentially consider a barrier in terms of entry, closely aligned to childcare, and very dependant on a supportive partner. Actually that applies in terms of more roles/jobs than politics so it's probably a moot point.

parker kent

Stheno wrote: »

True, but as part of college politics I got involved in real world politics via elections etc, and got some visibility into it. The workload and the need to be available for local/national events would be something else that I'd potentially consider a barrier in terms of entry, closely aligned to childcare, and very dependant on a supportive partner. Actually that applies in terms of more roles/jobs than politics so it's probably a moot point.

But surely the workload and need to be available for events are barriers to men as well? There has to be other issues blocking entry to politics. I would side with the 5 Cs as being the issue, with culture being the big one.

Stheno

parker kent wrote: »

But surely the workload and need to be available for events are barriers to men as well? There has to be other issues blocking entry to politics. I would side with the 5 Cs as being the issue, with culture being the big one.

Not imo from the perspective that traditionally women tend to be the caregivers/do most of the childcare, but as I said it applies to other professions as well. I worked as a consultant in a large multinational and they had a support group specifically for women who were consultants, but not for men! Yet when I was working with my male colleagues, they called home, checked in with the kids, etc, but did have partners who took on the day to day care of the kids while holding down their own jobs.

parker kent

Stheno wrote: »

Not imo from the perspective that traditionally women tend to be the caregivers/do most of the childcare, but as I said it applies to other professions as well. I worked as a consultant in a large multinational and they had a support group specifically for women who were consultants, but not for men! Yet when I was working with my male colleagues, they called home, checked in with the kids, etc, but did have partners who took on the day to day care of the kids while holding down their own jobs.

But the average age of people who get involved in politics is likely to young, so children will not be an issue for a large amount of them. Referring to the earlier example, we were talking about women leaving college and not getting involved in politics afterwards, so childcare etc is not likely to be an issue for the majority of them.

My querying of this issue is about why women who were involved and interested in politics at an early age, then stop getting involved afterwards.

Stheno

parker kent wrote: »

But the average age of people who get involved in politics is likely to young, so children will not be an issue for a large amount of them. Referring to the earlier example, we were talking about women leaving college and not getting involved in politics afterwards, so childcare etc is not likely to be an issue for the majority of them.

My querying of this issue is about why women who involved and interested in politics at an early age, stop getting involved afterwards.

Fair point, in my case, I left college, bummed around for a couple of years, and then got completely immersed in work. I also moved around a fair bit in those years, so it would have been hard enough to put down roots in terms of joining a party and having a local affiliate.

Now it's due to the lack of opportunity I have to regularly attend events due to work commitments

I still have a fairly avid interest in politics, keep up, read politics here on boards, sometimes contribute, read the news, talk about it in work, follow the likes of local and national elections with great interest etc.

Da Shins Kelly

I've been getting stuck into the protests over here in Spain. Been in Madrid and Barcelona with the protesters.

southsiderosie

I've always liked politics. I like talking and arguing about politics; that's actually how I met my last two exes. Most of my academic and professional life has involved political activity to some degree. My dream job would be to serve as a political strategist/policy director for the President. I would chop off my pinky finger to have James Carville's career.

To a certain extent, I suppose my interest was shaped by where and how I grew up. Chicago is a really brass-knuckles big city machine kind of place where politics can be dirty, but it's also a very pragmatic process. As a city, it's the ultimate social science laboratory, with its jumble of neighborhoods, waves of migration, and political chicanery. I've always been fascinated by it, and the more I learn about it, the more amazed I am that we are where we are today. Also, my father was a trade union activist, and when he got laid off at his plant, he would end up taking my brothers to picket lines and meetings because my parents couldn't afford a babysitter. We used to visit Santa at the union hall. A few years ago, I worked for a trade union myself.

I also grew up in a neighborhood with a lot of activists. We used to picket with our friends parents during teacher's strikes, and our parents organized a "strike school" so we didn't fall too behind. We even did computer programming stuff - and this was back in the early 80s.

I guess I find it interesting for a few reasons. First, if there is a problem, I'd rather work on fixing it than bitching about it. Second, it's such a human activity, shaped by history and culture. I particularly like talking to politicians about what they do and how they see their constituencies - it takes a lot of balls to get up in front of the world and ask them to support you as the best person for the job. Third, I think that active citizenship is an important part of living in a democracy. Plus, in a world of scarce resources, the squeaky wheel gets the grease. Ultimately, it's something I find both intellectually and professionally interesting, and to be honest part of me doesn't get why other people don't think it's the most interesting thing in the world either.