Top 5 reasons for standing

Women's political activism reviewed

The general election is upon us, and everybody is jumping on the bandwagon of women and politics. Everybody that is except the Labour Party who are jumping in a pink minibus. But that is another story.

The main questions I want to explore is why are women not engaging with politics? And if they are not - either as voters or as candidates - why is that?

Social media is now buzzing with campaigns that are focusing on getting women out to vote - ranging from posters about suffragettes to hustings for women to meet the candidates and get more involved in the decision making process.

In Bristol, Bristol Women's Voice are partnering with Fairplay South West and Bristol Fawcett for a series of Women's Question Time across the city in the lead up to the General Elections in May. These will allow women in the four constituencies to meet the candidates. The motto of the event "women can win the general election!" implies that as a result, women will vote and elect a candidate that will represent their views best.

At the same time, political parties are exploring ways to get women candidates. Some are looking at using a zipping system to select candidates (which means that the names of women and men alternate equally in the critical top positions of the Party), while others are looking at equalising quotas. Some are just hoping that with luck, they will get more women candidates.

While women are playing increasingly visible and important roles in elections, running for office continues to be male dominated.

As I was considering stating in the general elections 2015, I've spent a lot of time understanding and talking to women in Bristol about what is keeping them from being more engaged in the political process.

One of the first questions that has come up was - do women really not engage with politics? Or is it that the way most women engage in political activism is not always on the political radar because of the way they these engagements are structured. Research indicates women are actively involved in fights for social justice and economic equality. An example is the netmums campaign that involved thousands of women and brought about increased numbers of health visitors for new parents.

There are numerous other campaigns lead by women that promote LGBT rights, accessible childcare, mental health and well-being, alongside campaigns against FGM and other forms of violence against women and girls. By shifting the way we view political activism, there is a lot we can learn from women's engagement that can help re-shape current political structures and make them more democratic.

Ultimately, it's not that women do not engage in political activism. The problem lies in the way we conceptualise political activism and what it entails. It's all about the lens we use to analyse women and politics. And currently the lens is very patriarchal. The same reason stands in the way of more women becoming candidates in local and national elections. In my conversations with women in Bristol, five main reasons have emerged that often prevent women from putting themselves forward.

1. Bureaucratic and patriarchal process. The way parties organise their internal selection processes and campaigns are still set in old bureaucratic and patriarchal ways. Most meetings (certainly the most important ones) take place in the evening and do not provide childcare support, leaving out large numbers of women with caring responsibilities. Women who will often self organise and mobilise around some issue easily (for example the recent case in Bristol when a celebrity football match sponsored by mum and businesswoman has raised thousands of pounds to help fund for surgery so a boy with severe cerebral palsy may walk) but this is not very visible in mainstream political events and campaigns. This was especially visible  in the recent "Inside the Commons" programme on BBC 2, which over three series paraded numerous men in suits.

2. Disengaging language. Hustings, polls, policies, deficit, governance, neoliberal economic approaches... isn't that an easy language to gasp and understand straight off your feet? Unless you are involved in political processes already - no, this is NOT! It is a language of exclusion and leads to many women (and men!) disengaging with politics the way it is. This is one of the reasons populist parties are gaining ground - they are successful at translating politics into every day language.

3. Lack of confidence came up in all conversations, and I can't say that I am unfamiliar with this feeling. As women, we are faced with confidence issues all the time - from a lack of confidence in our bodies and the way we parent our children, to the way we take care of the extended family and express ourselves at work. We often suffer from what is known as the "impostor syndrome" - a feeling that we are not as good as people think we are, and we are going to be found out any minute now.

Remember that time when you stood in a meeting and you had so much to say? But just before you came in you were unable to verify that data with a thousand sources, so you did not want to say anything for the fear of everybody find out that you might not know your stuff?

In the case of politics, women's lack of confidence comes from our disengagement with partriarchal political activism.

4. Disillusion with politics. The numbers of people voting and engaging with the political process is NOT on the rise. Women are disengaged from the current political landscape (because of the language, because of the time meetings take place).  There is a general feeling that politicians are these white middle class men who have no idea what it is like to live in a terraced house, on the outskirts of Bristol, juggling 2 jobs and 3 children. 

5. Women's representation in the media. 

Women's representation in the media is

not working to our advantage. Starting with the representation of the "ideal" body, to our representation as coldblooded women who do not care about our families (ie. Iron Lady), or women who are miraculously transformed by a role in politics (Mail Online headline: Goodbye death row hair, hello super-sleek soon to be First Minister Nicola).

While we strive to achieve gender balance in political life, it's important we realise that while men and women are equal, they are different. That is why our expression of political activism as women can differ significant from that of men. It's not to say one or another is better. They are simply different.

In order for women to become more visible in the political realm, we have to re-conceptualise the way we run and understand politics. How do you think we can achieve this?

Please email your views to cezara.nanu@bristolgreenparty.org.uk, or find me on Twitter: @KingswoodGreen.