Tag: Gender

Online abuse is driving women out of public life. It’s time to act

Online abuse is driving women out of public life. It’s time to act

Public scrutiny is one thing, but the degree of online abuse now suffered by female political candidates is another. The Independent Committee for Standards in Public Life has recommended that platforms be held liable for hate speech and incitement to violence – but, writes María Rún Bjarnadóttir (University of Sussex), domestic UK law currently does not […]

‘Desperately seeking an elderly gentleman with a large majority … to persuade Parliament to allow MPs to job-share’

‘Desperately seeking an elderly gentleman with a large majority … to persuade Parliament to allow MPs to job-share’

Or a woman MP for that matter, write Rosie Campbell and Sarah Childs (Birkbeck). But they must be adored by their parliamentary and local constituency party so that both will be happy for them to stand as half of one of the first MP job-shares at the next General Election. We think it might take […]

Rising violence against women in politics threatens democracy itself

Rising violence against women in politics threatens democracy itself

Violence against female politicians – and the threat of it – is becoming much more common, and not only in Britain. Mona Lena Krook looks at how social media has opened up new channels for harassment, what distinguishes misogynistic attacks, and how other countries are responding to them. Ignoring or playing down the problem is not an […]

The Remainers who now chair select committees will harry the government over Brexit

The Remainers who now chair select committees will harry the government over Brexit

The new cohort of select committee chairs will be scrutinising the work of a weakened government, write Mark Goodwin, Stephen Bates and Marc Geddes. Nine of the 28 are women, reflecting the advantage female MPs enjoy when they stand for committee elections. The current line-up also includes some well-known figures who have clashed with their party […]

Book review | Masculinity, Femininity and American Political Behavior, by Monika McDermott

Book review | Masculinity, Femininity and American Political Behavior, by Monika McDermott

In Masculinity, Femininity and American Political Behavior, Monika McDermott presents research that fundamentally questions longstanding assumptions regarding the influence of biological sex when it comes to US voting behaviour. Arguing that it is gendered personality traits that have greater implications when it comes to political preference, this offers a valuable challenge to reductive understandings as […]

‘Mum-of-two, 40’: but women rise to the top in Northern Irish politics

‘Mum-of-two, 40’: but women rise to the top in Northern Irish politics

Women now lead three of the five main parties in Northern Ireland and make up 30% of the Assembly. Danielle Roberts looks at the sea-change in women’s participation in Northern Irish politics since the Good Friday Agreement, which has happened in spite of the lack of Unionist female politicians. While a number of BME and LGBT […]

Good news: fielding women candidates doesn’t put parties at a disadvantage in elections

Good news: fielding women candidates doesn’t put parties at a disadvantage in elections

We know women are more likely to be elected under proportional representation, but it hasn’t been clear which aspects of PR benefit them.  Sona N. Golder, Laura B. Stephenson, Karine van der Straeten, André Blais, Damien Bol, Philipp Harfst and Jean-François Laslier designed an experiment in which people could cast (fake) votes for (real) European […]

In places where corruption is endemic, women struggle to become local councillors

In places where corruption is endemic, women struggle to become local councillors

Across Europe, while some regions elect relatively high shares of women to local councils, men almost exclusively dominate the councils of others. New research by Aksel Sundström and Lena Wängnerud suggests that informal recruitment practices are important in understanding why. Their study shows that in regions where corruption is endemic in local government, authorities elect lower shares of women […]

Designing a new parliament with women in mind

Designing a new parliament with women in mind

Following the appointment of the UK’s second female Prime Minister, Jennifer Thomson assesses progress on gender equality in British politics. In particular, she considers how a restored and renewed Palace of Westminster could introduce changes to both the physical environment and political norms which could help address historical underrepresentation of women in Parliament. Similar PostsThis May be Tory feminism: […]

This May be Tory feminism: The second woman PM is not Margaret Thatcher Mark II

This May be Tory feminism: The second woman PM is not Margaret Thatcher Mark II

As the second Conservative Prime Minister, it is hardly surprising that Theresa May is being compared to Margaret Thatcher. But Julie Gottlieb writes  tracing the political ancestry on the basis of their common gender is misleading. In particular, she highlights May does not share Thatcher’s apparent rancour for feminism, and argues that we could be on the […]