Reflecting on the empirical theory, we need to understand that democracy is not a homogenous entity but rather a heterogeneous, complex, and multifaceted one. Thus, the factors that limit women from achieving success in politics vary based on the level and timeframe a country has been under democratic governance. The political history over decades has been driven by the politics of democracy and representation that excludes women. Hinojosa and Kittilson (2020) indicate that many theorists excluded women from politics by endowing them confinement to private and family spheres. Even though the existence of the Great Revolution, the American Revolution, the England-based glorious Revolution and the French Revolution underpin republican universalism while precluding discussion on the political state of women, no revolution gave women access to national governance until the 21st century when the debate on how the nature of democracy impact women representation in politics. Today, the representation of democracy is measured based on how many women are included in the nation’s governance. Research by Bird (2003) indicates that the average percentage of women in most countries’ parliaments in 2006 was 17%, with about ten countries having no female member of parliament. This shows that the representation of women in politics depends on the nature of democracy and whether the political state allows women to compete in most if all, legislative positions.
As per the normative theories of democracy, the value of political equality requires both women and men to exercise their constitutional rights as equal citizens, and any attribute of allowing only men to make public decisions promotes a democratic deficit (Cornwall and Goetz, 2005). Compared with empirical theories, democracy involves freedom of expression, form, joining organizations, and the right to stand for public office, vote, and participate in political leadership competitions and voting exercises (Hinojosa and Kittilson, 2020). Being a complex concept, empirical democracy touches on the practical realities such as socio-economic, cultural and political factors that allow equal opportunities to engage in politics. For instance, it becomes challenging for democracy to work in a population that lacks basic needs in education and health, lives in abject poverty, is vulnerable to no right of association and freedom of the press and demands women to obey their husbands through religious values and beliefs. The paper will reflect on the relevant literature on what determines the proportion of women in parliament while critically assessing the democratic nature and how it impacts women’s representation in politics.
Various factors impact women when they desire to access politics and legislative areas. The factors are categorized into cultural, political, and socio-economic, with a critical focus on the ability of women to access power while creating causality. One notable question that triggers the three categories of the factors that impact the representation of women in politics is whether cultural factors precede political and socioeconomic factors or vice versa. For instance, a question arises whether women, through cultural gender equality, can access legal careers to achieve economic independence since it remains unresolved to determine if socioeconomic, cultural and political factors can create a dynamic act that allows women to be elected into political positions on a freewill.
Culture involves beliefs, values, attitudes and standards that define a society or an institution while animating the population’s way of doing, talking and being (Thames and Williams, 2013). The primary cultural factors include education, religion, and views of gender-based social roles, which define the proportion of women in politics. Bird (2003) indicates that culture regarding equality among men and women doubles as an influential variable compared to voting systems when determining the number of women in politics. Culture is important in determining the proportion of women in politics since it is a variable superimposed on political and socio-economic factors.
Socio-economic factors drive the desire of women to participate and lead in the political wing. These factors consider the magnitude of the female candidates in politics and operate on the theoretical framework that posits that seeing a few women in politics equates to under-representation within the party’s identification and recruitment process when seeking potential candidates. As per Hinojosa and Kittilson (2020), improving women’s socio-economic conditions ensures that the presence of women in politics increases. Some variables that promote socioeconomic factors include societal norms based on the industrial, agricultural and post-industrial elements, birth rate, Human Development Index, urbanization rate, women proportion in the labor market, male/female revenue ratio and per Capita Gross National Product (GNP) (Thames and Williams, 2013). However, some socioeconomic factors include labor market participation, a Human Development Index score, development welfare state and post-industrial society.
In the political arena, political factors shape a candidate and ensure they have the upper hand in getting more votes to be the winner. Political factors influence candidates’ choices and eligibility criteria during the election contest period. However, the representation of women in the political arena leads to two different dimensions based on political factors. The two dimensions include the political regime and political rights of women, where the political regime reflects on the impact of political actors on women’s politics, while the political rights of women involve the political stand of women measured in terms of the period women have been in politics and a chance given through the right to vote. Cornwall and Goetz (2005) indicate that the political regime factors include state structure on whether it promotes federal or unitary legislation, parliament structure on whether it echoes a bi or uni-cameral based on the number of seats and legislature maximum length, the party system-based on specific ideologies, candidates selection, legislative nature and electoral system. It is open that the number of available legislative seats defines how many women can be elected, given that having a low turnover for women parliamentarians will result in a low turnover rate.
However, those parties that women contest with and have left and centred the ideological spectrum support and offer women political possibilities with high chances of winning and being elected. On the dimension of the political rights of women, there exists a connection between the proportion of women in politics and the political rights of women. This dimension is defined by variables such as the history of the first woman to win an election and represent people in parliament, the year a woman won the right to run a national public office in an election and the year a woman accessed government for the first time. Notably, the electoral process is driven by a political regime with legislation that allows women to access the parliamentary arena. Bird (2003) indicates that a parliament with many women in office upholds proportional representation and is constituted by majority and plurality systems. However, there is no consistent voting system that acts based on independent contexts, and this is why parliaments formed in similar voting systems promote different proportions of women in politics with varying percentages of women in parliament.
A voting system’s performance depends on the prevailing structure and the actors using it to their advantage. For instance, the high turnover rates of political candidates are driven by high voter turnout, improving the chances of women being allowed and listed in eligible political positions. On the same wavelength, parties with power and political force reduce the number of small parties into a coalition, giving women a better chance to get elected or work voluntarily in a nominated capacity within the political framework. A party in a big coalition gets an opportunity to have more seats assigned, and through equality, women get the opportunity to be elected and assigned some of these seats voluntarily or mechanically (Thames and Williams, 2013). Another challenge of political factors on the proportion of women in politics is the parliamentary representation of women, where the electoral system affects female legislature representation by allowing recruitment strategy to echo party nominations at the grassroots. One notable aspect of the voting system is that it can echo an intermediary variable between the parliamentary representation of women and political parties while shaping the parties’ strategies in selecting candidates. This indicates that the underrepresentation of women in politics is based on something other than the electoral system but on the party selection committees. The selection process is driven by the fear of losing the seat to the competitor, whose party may feel that allowing female candidates provides the competitor an easy way to win the seat.
In almost all electoral systems, rather than the electorate, the party is mandated to control part of a candidate’s selection, which notably impacts the parliament composition. However, parties control their candidate selection process based on the voting procedure and specific characteristics that echo proportional representation, lists without preferential or closed lists voting. Many parties that want to uphold democracies in party nominations do not acknowledge an open list with a combination of methods or panache where voters designate specific people without consulting the parties on who they think should represent them. The package system of candidate selections does not have a consensus on whether a closed or open list will be used, and allowing the political parties to have total control over parliament composition will allow more women in parliament and politics. As per Hinojosa and Kittilson (2020), a party that promotes single transferable vote systems has preliminary control over the parliament composition with a final say on whether the endorsement votes will be given to a female or male candidate supporting the party. Notably, the votes endorsed candidates get are preferential votes that individuals entrusted to the candidate they prioritize. However, countries that embrace a single transferrable vote system are vulnerable to low women proportions in politics, while the plurality/majority systems promote a centralized candidate selection process.
The selection process of political candidates is not neutral since it echoes the exclusion and inclusion process where those who are legislative candidates are ruled out systematically while others are ruled out systematically. As per Waylen (2015), party leaders, activists, voters, officers and members who double as party selectors use an ideal parliament membership type to choose their candidates using a homo politicus model. This is where the system is tuned to select a standard model for the perfect candidate based on education, work experience, and management abilities as part of appropriate career qualifications. Bird (2003) posits that gender quotas double as a strategy that can be leveraged to counteract systemic or informal discrimination selection that imposes a curfew on female candidates. In the early 1990s, it took work to see women in politics. After that, more than 90 countries adopted affirmative political action to advance women’s political representation. The desire to promote democracy in the selection of women in politics led to gender quotas that give women a minimum percentage to achieve the minimum requirements to be listed as candidates. Today, quota systems ensure that political parties prioritize women in 20-30% of their candidates (Dahlerup, 2005).
Discrimination in party preliminaries is fought using party and civil society feminist mobilizations during the electoral scene, prompting the party leaders to change the selection strategy rather than tainting their names and the party’s national image. However, despite voting systems impacting the access of women to legislative assemblies, studies show that the electorate does not exercise candidate selection discrimination with the notion that women in politics have a negative perception that the chances of losing the political seat are high, casting doubts on their abilities to get the seat (Waylen, 2015). In conclusion, socio-economic, political and cultural factors influence the ability of women to access political seats across the world. In a nutshell, democracy does not encompass parliament feminization with a low proportion of women but offers state quality democratic life for all. People have the right to contest and run a political seat with the right to vote. Democracy cannot be achieved without women, and this translates to a political arena that needs to embrace the right to vote and run for political office for the whole genders without discrimination based on religion, political affiliation, gender, sex or identity.
Today, there is a shift in women’s political representation where most countries aim to achieve democratically constituted leadership. Democracy doubles as a political system governments adopt to create a better version of a government. Democracy in politics means that the number of women participating in politics has increased through policies allowing them to achieve and exercise their right to run, participate and vote during elections without discrimination. The problem at hand is that even those countries labeled to be democratic have fewer women in politics with fewer political positions for women compared to those countries that are considered to be autocratic. A democratic parliament upholds society’s views and allows specific perspectives to shape society’s social, economic and political future.
This is a declaration by the United Nations that challenges any form of discrimination against women who desire to pursue politics while demanding democratic representation in politics. Women have equal rights with men, with a right to vote and be involved in the public referenda. They have the same capacity to be involved in government policy formulation and its formulation, as well as the capacity to hold public offices and functions within the government and private institutions. Democracy allows women to participate in politics freely, and this helps a democratic country achieve peace, democracy itself, sustainable development, and equality. Theoretically, there is a great debate on women’s participation increase in politics, which is an attribute that gained momentum due to feminist participation that happened in the 1960s. Women constitute at least half of the world’s population with the right to represent people in politics, and feminist believes that when women are well represented in politics, they can bring to the table the interests of women as they understand them well compared to male politicians. Another report by Esarey and Schwindt-Bayer, 2018) indicates that women are less corrupt and have better chances to observe and provide strong leadership and less corruption when they can participate in politics without discrimination.
The fundamental of democracy is to boost and allow more women in politics since this helps a government achieve sustainable development. We have a strong correlation between the government development level and the number of women participating in politics, with many countries such as the Bahamas registering high levels of GDP per capita, yet they have few women in power, but poor countries such as Rwanda have more women in politics and parliament compared to developed countries like the United States (Dovi, 2006). This indicates that the standards of wealth do not relate to high levels of women’s participation in politics since the higher the GDP per capita, the lower the number of women who participate in politics in such regions (Waylen, 2015).
Political parties gate keep democracy and offer a chance for women to participate in politics by giving them opportunities to participate as members and candidates. They directly promote an increase in the number of women participating in politics. The political parties can either increase or decrease the number of women politicians, and this is achieved based on whether the party promotes democracy through equal voting or not. This is also driven by a political culture that acknowledges gender equality since the number of women participating in politics depends on the political environment and policy that allows and gives them opportunities to exercise freedom and the right to vote, run and hold political positions without fear and discrimination.
The current issue in politics is that countries considered democratic seem to have failed to promote women’s political participation, as observed in most developed countries that are considered democratic. There is a lack of political commitment to upholding a democratic space for women to participate in politics without fear of discrimination. This is a bigger issue when we anticipate that countries considered democratic need to be at the forefront in enhancing women’s presence in the political arena. However, the issue of lower women’s participation level in politics is driven by religious barriers, patriarchy, poverty, illiteracy and less capacity to influence domestic and local policy that gives opportunities for equal political representation. The problem is that there is no relationship between increased women’s participation in politics and democracy, with a recommendation of political parties taking full responsibility for promoting party policy that allows increased women’s involvement in both full and flawed democratic and autocratic nations. This can be achieved by the following strategies. The political parties need to take the initiative of creating awareness and educating men on the importance of political gender balancing to prepare everyone for the key role women can play in shaping the politics of the world. Second, women need public and private financing support to have strong candidature when vying for political office. It becomes challenging for women in politics to get the funding, yet running a political office requires financial muscle. Third, encouraging women to work across party lines helps promote the possibility for women to participate at all political levels. Encouragement helps women realize their potential and understand their role and capacity in politics, hence opting for any political seat during the election period (Lovenduski and Norris, 2003).
Democracy in politics is achieved by increasing the number of women in politics through participation, and this depends on whether there are capacity-building programs that train women on how to participate in governance and politics or if there are monitoring and evaluation programs used to assess the level and effectiveness of women in politics (Lovenduski, 2019). Finally, it becomes paramount for those women who already have an establishment in the political arena to help upcoming women politicians in politics that can help them withstand the political challenges. This is achieved by assisting them to have positive media feedback, coverage, and progressive participation in the national parliament agenda that influences national policy to gain political mileage and exposure.
In conclusion, the paper focused on the nature of democracy and how it impacts representation levels of women in politics. Reflecting on the empirical theory, we need to understand that democracy is not a homogenous entity but rather a heterogeneous, complex and multifaceted phenomenon. Thus, the factors that limit women from achieving success in politics vary based on the level and timeframe a country has been under democratic governance. Today, the representation of democracy is measured based on how many women are included in the nation’s governance. Being a complex concept, empirical democracy touches on the practical realities such as socio-economic, cultural and political factors that allow equal opportunities to engage in politics. Various factors impact women when they desire to access politics and legislative areas. The factors are categorized into cultural, political, and socio-economic, with a critical focus on the ability of women to access power while creating causality.
The primary cultural factors include education, religion, and views of gender-based social roles, which define the proportion of women in politics. Socio-economic factors drive the desire of women to participate and lead in the political wing. These factors consider the magnitude of the female candidates in politics and operate on the theoretical framework that posits that seeing a few women in politics equates to under-representation within the party’s identification and recruitment process when seeking potential candidates. Some socioeconomic factors include labor market participation, a Human Development Index score, development welfare state and post-industrial society. In the political arena, political factors shape a candidate and ensure they have the upper hand in getting more votes to be the winner. Political factors influence candidates’ choices and eligibility criteria during the election contest period. The political regime factors include state structure on whether it promotes federal or unitary legislation, parliament structure on whether it echoes a bi or uni-cameral based on the number of seats and legislature maximum length, the party system based on specific ideologies, candidate selection, legislative nature and electoral system.
The electoral process is driven by a political regime with legislation that allows women to access the parliamentary arena. A voting system’s performance depends on the prevailing structure and the actors using it to their advantage. One notable aspect of the voting system is that it can echo an intermediary variable between the parliamentary representation of women and political parties while shaping the parties’ strategies in selecting candidates. This indicates that the underrepresentation of women in politics is based on something other than the electoral system but on the party selection committees. In almost all electoral systems, rather than the electorate, the party is mandated to control part of a candidate’s selection, which notably impacts the parliament composition. However, parties control their candidate selection process based on the voting procedure and specific characteristics that echo proportional representation, lists without preferential or closed lists voting.
Today, there is a shift in women’s political representation where most countries aim to achieve democratically constituted leadership. Democracy doubles as a political system governments adopt to create a better version of a government. Democracy in politics means that the number of women participating in politics has increased through policies allowing them to achieve and exercise their right to run, participate and vote during elections without discrimination. The current issue in politics is that countries considered democratic seem to have failed to promote women’s political participation, as observed in most developed countries that are considered democratic. There is a lack of political commitment to upholding a democratic space for women to participate in politics without fear of discrimination. This is a bigger issue when we anticipate that countries considered democratic need to be at the forefront in enhancing women’s presence in the political arena.
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