The Elephant of Patriarchy in Political Parties
One of the major issues that persist throughout the world is that women’s physical presence and voices in positions of power and decision making within political parties remains weak and almost non-existent. Even though women participate visibly and actively in supporting political parties and are mobilised by parties to join as well as cast their vote in support of the parties through elections, their participation does not always guarantee inclusion in decision making within parties and in public decision making in general. It can be argued that scepticism about women’s leadership and decision making capacities is common within political parties because of the social norms which dictate that politics is a domain for men.
The issue is not whether women are able to and/or can perform an active role in political parties, because they can and they do in fact contribute at many levels. The issue is how to accelerate the access of women into political spaces and ensure that their voices are “heard” and their participation is matched with their presence and involvement in the leadership and decision making processes in politics.
The equal access and participation of women and men in political and electoral processes is largely determined by the intra-party democracy cultures, systems and processes and the process of candidate selection and nomination. In many instances the low participation and representation of women is in fact part of the broader issue of cultural and traditional attitudes that are entrenched within and perpetuated by political party norms, systems, practices, procedures and access to leadership positions.
The fact that political parties are regarded as the “real gatekeepers” to accessing positions of power and the advancement of women in politics, entails that it is at political party level that women’s empowerment and gender equality principles must be put into practice. Therefore, political movements or parties as institutions that can support democracy building should provide an enabling environment for the meaningful participation of both men and women.
In order to unearth the extent to which the issues defined above are entrenched within political parties, International IDEA conducted an analysis of political parties’ constitutions, manifestos, public statements and internal policies between June 2011 to June 2012. The analysis covered the following 36 countries in Africa and 3 in Asia (piloting countries); Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Chad, Congo Brazzaville, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, The Gambia, Ghana, Indonesia, India, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Mali, Malawi, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Nepal, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
It is evident from the analysis that while some political parties have quotas for women’s representation in parliament, they do not apply these same quotas to internal party structures, because as noted above their party cultures and specifically their traditional male dominated attitudes limit women’s meaningful participation and representation.
In most of the countries covered in the analysis, national legislative frameworks (constitutions, laws) that are intended to protect or enhance gender equality are in place. While legislative frameworks are critically important in establishing recognition for equality between women and men, there is a gap in the translation of these principles into action beyond the legislative level in terms of the structures and processes that enable legislation to take proper effect. The impact of this is the continued lack of gender equality in positions of power and decision making including from within political parties. One of the reasons for this is that political parties have not entrenched the gender equality principles stipulated in the national legislations into their intra-party processes, practices, systems and structures. While some of the political parties’ manifestos mention international commitments towards women’s empowerment and gender equality, the absence of guarantees in the political parties’ processes and practices inhibits any substantive actions to implement these commitments.
Beyond campaigning rhetoric, most political parties have not yet incorporated gender equality in their policy documents, in particular the rules and regulations for the identification, selection and nomination of candidates for leadership positions within the party and other positions of power and decision making. Consequently, the numbers on women in leadership within political parties do not reflect the promises made by most political parties during campaigning.
The political culture of using power as a tool for domination and the “unwritten” rules on male privilege within political parties undermine women’s empowerment in general and in particular women’s access to positions of power and decision making.
Rumbidzai Kandawasvika-Nhundu
Senior Programme Manager
Democracy and Gender
International IDEA
One of the major issues that persist throughout the world is that women’s physical presence and voices in positions of power and decision making within political parties remains weak and almost non-existent. Even though women participate visibly and actively in supporting political parties and are mobilised by parties to join as well as cast their vote in support of the parties through elections, their participation does not always guarantee inclusion in decision making within parties and in public decision making in general. It can be argued that scepticism about women’s leadership and decision making capacities is common within political parties because of the social norms which dictate that politics is a domain for men.
The issue is not whether women are able to and/or can perform an active role in political parties, because they can and they do in fact contribute at many levels. The issue is how to accelerate the access of women into political spaces and ensure that their voices are “heard” and their participation is matched with their presence and involvement in the leadership and decision making processes in politics.
The equal access and participation of women and men in political and electoral processes is largely determined by the intra-party democracy cultures, systems and processes and the process of candidate selection and nomination. In many instances the low participation and representation of women is in fact part of the broader issue of cultural and traditional attitudes that are entrenched within and perpetuated by political party norms, systems, practices, procedures and access to leadership positions.
The fact that political parties are regarded as the “real gatekeepers” to accessing positions of power and the advancement of women in politics, entails that it is at political party level that women’s empowerment and gender equality principles must be put into practice. Therefore, political movements or parties as institutions that can support democracy building should provide an enabling environment for the meaningful participation of both men and women.
In order to unearth the extent to which the issues defined above are entrenched within political parties, International IDEA conducted an analysis of political parties’ constitutions, manifestos, public statements and internal policies between June 2011 to June 2012. The analysis covered the following 36 countries in Africa and 3 in Asia (piloting countries); Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Chad, Congo Brazzaville, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, The Gambia, Ghana, Indonesia, India, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Mali, Malawi, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Nepal, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
It is evident from the analysis that while some political parties have quotas for women’s representation in parliament, they do not apply these same quotas to internal party structures, because as noted above their party cultures and specifically their traditional male dominated attitudes limit women’s meaningful participation and representation.
In most of the countries covered in the analysis, national legislative frameworks (constitutions, laws) that are intended to protect or enhance gender equality are in place. While legislative frameworks are critically important in establishing recognition for equality between women and men, there is a gap in the translation of these principles into action beyond the legislative level in terms of the structures and processes that enable legislation to take proper effect. The impact of this is the continued lack of gender equality in positions of power and decision making including from within political parties. One of the reasons for this is that political parties have not entrenched the gender equality principles stipulated in the national legislations into their intra-party processes, practices, systems and structures. While some of the political parties’ manifestos mention international commitments towards women’s empowerment and gender equality, the absence of guarantees in the political parties’ processes and practices inhibits any substantive actions to implement these commitments.
Beyond campaigning rhetoric, most political parties have not yet incorporated gender equality in their policy documents, in particular the rules and regulations for the identification, selection and nomination of candidates for leadership positions within the party and other positions of power and decision making. Consequently, the numbers on women in leadership within political parties do not reflect the promises made by most political parties during campaigning.
The political culture of using power as a tool for domination and the “unwritten” rules on male privilege within political parties undermine women’s empowerment in general and in particular women’s access to positions of power and decision making.
Rumbidzai Kandawasvika-Nhundu
Senior Programme Manager
Democracy and Gender
International IDEA
Patriarchy in political parties
In most countries women are majority voters, but rarely rally behind their fellow women.In cases where a political party is lead by a woman, still women don't join the party. This can be attributed to the fact that most women see themselves as weak human beings and similarly see their fellow women as weak. They therefore prefer to join male dominated parties even if their role is not significantly recognized and bank on the fact that the law will compel the parties to nominate them somewhere.
It is time women realized that they can make things happen and that they can get to political offices without being subjected to nomination by political parties. In fact the women who get nominated to political office by male dominated political parties do very little to enhance themselves and fellow women.They don't even push for the rights of their fellow women since they spend more time serving the interests of their male masters.If in parliament, they are keen on defending activities of their male masters and in most cases when they make a contribution its in support and defense of their male masters.
For as long as this mentality remains in women, we are our own enemies.
Patriarchy in political parties
In most countries women are majority voters, but rarely rally behind their fellow women.In cases where a political party is lead by a woman, still women don't join the party. This can be attributed to the fact that most women see themselves as weak human beings and similarly see their fellow women as weak. They therefore prefer to join male dominated parties even if their role is not significantly recognized and bank on the fact that the law will compel the parties to nominate them somewhere.
It is time women realized that they can make things happen and that they can get to political offices without being subjected to nomination by political parties. In fact the women who get nominated to political office by male dominated political parties do very little to enhance themselves and fellow women.They don't even push for the rights of their fellow women since they spend more time serving the interests of their male masters.If in parliament, they are keen on defending activities of their male masters and in most cases when they make a contribution its in support and defense of their male masters.
For as long as this mentality remains in women, we are our own enemies.