Women and Politics

El uso de internet y las redes sociales han permitido vehiculizar demandas sociales y políticas, a medida que las mujeres comenzaron a acceder a estas tecnologías, especialmente, desde principios de la década de 2000. Ya a casi veinte años, y a ocho de la Primavera Árabe, en que las redes sociales cumplieron un rol relevante sobre la visibilización de actores y sus demandas, de circulación de consignas, ideales, repertorios de acción, de espacios de socialización entre manifestantes, en este artículo analizo la situación de las mujeres en el período de MBS. Por un lado, me interesa aportar una sistematización del estado del arte respecto al activismo virtual y a la configuración de un espacio de confrontación política, un intersticio de esfera pública en el que demandas sobre expansión de derechos son planteadas por actores históricamente marginados del espacio de discusión y participación política. Esto implica la configuración de una red de interacción en la que se actúa políticamente, mas no de acuerdo a los medios tradicionales de expresión y participación más visibles en Estados vecinos, o de acuerdo a las formas clásicas de concepción de pluralismo político y democracia. Asimismo, indago en la praxis del gobierno, de actores locales e internacionales, en torno a este presunto período de “apertura” o de “reformas progresivas”, para visibilizar dinámicas de reversibilidad entre repertorios de acción social vinculados a la publicidad de situaciones consideradas injusta, de protesta y enunciación política, que tienen lugar en las redes sociales e internet. Me concentro a tal fin en las casos de las campañas virtuales contra la custodia masculina, cuyo caso emblemático fue el exilio de Rahaf Mohamed al-Qunun, así como en las campañas contra las detenciones a activistas por el derecho a conducir y de Isra al-Ghomgham, militante por los derechos políticos de la minoría chiita saudí.

Price: £105 hardcover Number of Pages: 334 pp. ISBN: 978-1-138-67742-5

Modern Motherhood and Women's Dual Identities: Rewriting the Sexual Contract presents an innovative and necessary intervention into a central dilemma in late modernity: the contradiction between western women's maternal and individualised selves. By identifying and examining the origins of the sexual contract, Petra Bueskens effectively demonstrates that its structural legacy acts to simultaneously constrain and liberate women. The principal insight of the book lies in the author's contention that women's freedom in the contemporary West is implicated in their continued subjugation as mothers under the 'new sexual contract'. This marks a theoretical evolution beyond existing feminist research which has established the existence of the polarity between maternal and autonomous selves as well as the perpetuation of gendered private and public spheres. Through an astute interpretation of sociological history and by conducting interviews with a group of 'revolving mothers', Bueskens is able to put forth a proposal for 'revolutionary change in the social order' (p. 304). The book can be organised into two complimentary approaches: firstly, an historical, theoretical and philosophical investigation and, secondly, a thematic case study of ten working mothers. Bueskens presents a detailed analysis of the birth of the modern social contract and the 'individual': an historical point from which, the author contends, Western society still draws its basic structure. Developed by the classical Western philosophers of the 17th and 18th centuries, the foundational principles of social contract theory or classical liberalism dictated that all men are born free; that they are free and equal to each other; and any government should be determined by democratic consent and the rule of law. The establishment of sovereignty for each man marked a departure from traditional, feudal society in which the rule of the father was hierarchically implemented by the domains of the church, state and family. In classical liberalism, the rule of the father was intended to be passed down to the rule of the son, and, thus, the social contract was born. Bueskens builds her theoretical position largely on Carole Pateman's assertion that the social contract from its inception relied upon the existence of the sexual contract and, therefore, the subjection of women as wives and mothers. Although the social contract granted a natural right to egalitarianism for both sexes, it was based on what Pateman terms 'fraternal patriarchy' which continued to perceive the patriarchal family and women's subjection to male rule as the 'natural' order of civilised society. This asymmetry was fixed not just by 'natural laws' but by institutionalised legality as women's subjugation to men was written into property rights and the prohibition of full citizenship, including suffrage. In Bueskens' phrasing:

The purpose of this study is to examine the way in which the news media frames female politicians in 2018. Prior research suggests the gender gap in American politics is likely due to a lack of political ambition in women, stemming from early childhood. Specifically, this analysis studies the way in which NPR, CNN and FOX News frame female politicians. How female  politicians are portrayed by the media could be a dissuading factor that encourages young women to lose interest in participating within the political sector.

Lacking tools to measure substantive representation, empirical research to date has determined women's substantive representation by identifying "women's interests" a priori, with little attention to differences across race, class, or other inequalities. To address this problem, I develop the concept of intersectional interests and a method for identifying these. Intersectional interests represent multiple perspectives and are forged through a process of political intersectionality that purposefully includes historically marginalized perspectives. These interests can be parsed into three types: expansionist, integrationist, and reconceived. Identification of intersectional interests requires, first, an inductive mapping of the differing women's perspectives that exist in a specific context and then an examination of the political processes that lead to these new, redefined interests. I demonstrate the concept of intersectional interests and how to identify these in Bolivia, where I focus on the political process of forging reconceived intersectional interests in Bolivia's political parity and pension reforms.

Questo saggio affronta il tema della promozione e della tutela dell’uguaglianza tra i generi  nella politica italiana a partire dal contributo dato dalla senatrice Tullia Romagnoli Carettoni (1918-2015) nel corso degli anni Settanta: periodo durante il quale è stata parlamentare per la Sinistra indipendente (V-VI-VII legislatura, giugno 1968-aprile 1979).
Filo conduttore è la vicenda di una proposta di legge avanzata per la prima volta nel marzo 1976 (Norme per la tutela dell’uguaglianza tra i sessi e istituzione di una Commissione parlamentare di indagine sulla condizione femminile in Italia). Proposta che, approvata al Senato nel dicembre 1977 con un titolo e un contenuto profondamente modificati (Abrogazione della rilevanza penale della causa d’onore) è alla base dell'espunzione della attenuante della causa d’onore e del matrimonio riparatore dall’ordinamento giuridico italiano (avvenuta definitivamente nel 1981 con la legge n. 442).

This paper explores how the prejudices, stereotypes and norms perpetrated in Muslim societies due to religion, culture and history affect the female leaders acquiring the most important seat in the country. The paper opens with a brief background debate pertaining to women heads and explores the candidacies and governance of four female leaders in Muslim states; Megawati Sukarnopotri, Benazir Bhutto, Khaleda Zia and, Sheikh Hasina. These women fought similar battles and enjoyed similar fates in administration. The paper is directed to see how culture and religion in Islamic societies creates further barriers for women leaders who have fought educational, financial and political barriers to rise to the top.

Justice Secretary Wanda Vazquez on Wednesday was sworn in as Puerto Rico’s third governor in five days. She lacks a secretary of state, a new justice secretary to replace herself, assorted other aides and officials -- and the desire to do the job.

“The real wild card we have at the moment is we’re not sure how long she wants to stay in office,” said Amilcar Antonio Barreto, a political scientist at Northeastern University in Boston who studies Puerto Rico.

Lakshmi Parvathi occupied a prominent center stage in Andhra Pradesh politics in the decade of 1990's due to her re-marriage with TDP founder and Tollywood lead actor NTR. Her acquired political prominence also resulted in political turbulence to TDP and NTR family. The present analysis draws attention since her acquired political prominence to decline in prominence, which ultimately resulted her to associate with the newly launched YSRC-Party.

Primarily published on personal blog: www.ssanthiswaroop.wordpress.com

Political parties act as gatekeepers, meaning that improvements in the representation of women depend on parties’ willingness to nominate women candidates. Previous research suggests that party characteristics and gender quotas largely explain women’s nominations, but overlooks the political context in which parties operate. This study highlights the gendered outcomes that occur when parties make nomination decisions in times of public discontent, namely increasing political distrust and increasing perceived corruption.We theorize that parties hold similar biases to voters: gender stereotypes that regard women as more trustworthy and honest should advantage women as political trust falls and perceptions of corruption rise. We hypothesize that parties nominate larger percentages of women in these circumstances. Using two waves of data from over 100 political parties in 18 Latin American countries, we find that parties nominate more women when a large proportion of the public distrusts the national legislature, providing support for the theory.

Aisyiyah adalah organisasi perempuan Persyarikatan Muhammadiyah, merupakan gerakan Islam. Sebagai organisasi perempuan di Indonesia yang berusia hampir 100 tahun, 'Aisyiyah sudah memiliki pengalaman dalam berkontribusi memajukan perempuan Indonesia dalam berbagai bidang kehidupan, baik bidang pendidikan, kesehatan, ekonomi, kesejahteraaan sosial, penyadaran hukum, pendidikan politik, dan pemberdayaan perempuan. Sedangkan, Golongan Putih (Golput) adalah golongan yang muncul akibat ketidakpuasan terhadap pelaksanaan pemilu tahun 1971. Sebuah organisasi memiliki peran yang penting untuk mengurangi angka golput yang ada di masyarakat, salah satunya adalah 'Aisyiyah. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menjelaskan bagaimana peran 'Aisyiyah untuk menekan angka golput dalam pemilihan umum tahun 2019 ini. Penelitian ini dilakukan di Aisyiyah Surakarta dengan menggunakan metode penelitian kualitatif. Pemilihan informan dilakukan dengan metode purposive sampling. Pengumpulan data dilakukan melalui observasi dan wawancara langsung. Hasil dari penelitian ini terdiri atas (1) Peran Aisyiyah dalam penekanan angka golput (2) Arah dukungan Aisyiah dalam pemilu, (3) Basis masa. Penelitian ini bermanfaat sebagai kajian strategis dalam membaca arah politik Aisyiyah serta pendekatan kemasyarakatan yang dilakukan oleh perempuan sebagai agen utamanya.

Aisyiyah is a Muhammadiyah women's organization, an Islamic movement. As a women's organization in Indonesia that is almost 100 years old, Aisyiyah has experienced in contributing to advances Indonesian women in various fields of life, those of education, health, economics, social welfare, legal awareness, political education, and women's empowerment. Meanwhile, the abstentions (golput) is a group that emerged as a result of dissatisfaction with the implementation of the 1971 elections. An organization has an important role in reducing the number of abstentions in the community, one of them is Aisyiyah. This study aims to explain Aisyiyah's role is to suppress abstentions in the 2019 general election. This study was conducted in the Branch office of Aisyiyah Surakarta by using qualitative research methods. The informants were selected by purposive sampling method. Head of the Social Welfare Assembly. Data are collected through observation and direct interviews. The results of this study consist of (1) Aisyiyah's role in suppressing abstentions (2) Aisyiah's support direction in elections, (3) supporter base. It is useful as a strategic analysis in understanding the political direction of Aisyiyah and the social approach taken by women as their main agents.

This paper analyzes the rise of Tjhai Chui Mie (TCM) as the first Chinese Indonesian woman elected as a political leader in Indonesian history. TCM won a direct local election in February 2017 and become the Mayor of Singkawang (2017–2022). Employing a qualitative research utilizing a feminist research methodology, this paper reveals complex interactions between ethnicity, politics, and gender. It strengthens the findings of previous scholarly works that highlighted the continuing relevance of ethnic politics or ethnic identity in contests for local executive power, especially in West Kalimantan. It shows the interplay of ethnic identity and a shift in ethnic power sharing in Singkawang, which previously occurred mainly between Dayaks and Malays, but now takes place between Chinese and Malays, which also accompanied by playing pratronage factor in it. It also sheds light on a positive gender narrative of Chinese Indonesian women in Singkawang. TCM, who has strong individual and social capital of networks, becomes a subject capable of influencing and shaping the dynamic of local politics, as compared to a dominant and negative narrative of Chinese Indonesian women in Singkawang that often associates them with the issue of mail-order brides. TCM’s case indicates that it is no longer appropriate to position Chinese Indonesian women as peripheral as they now have the same chances and potential as other Indonesian women to use ethnicity or gender to compete in local political contests. From a broader point of view, this paper contributes significantly to filling in the picture of Indonesian women’s varied experiences and roles in shaping local democracy in post-reformasi Indonesia, and promotes a non-andocentric perspective on politics.

Political empowerment of women starts with understanding the political and economic context in which they operate, as well as rigorous gender analysis,  and it requires a comprehensive approach to programming that looks beyond the legislature. The aim of women political empowerment is more than just having women in elective or appointive positions, or attaining at least 30% presence of women in the national legislative – these are but a part of it; the ultimate goal of women political empowerment is focused on women’s effort to make their voices heard (USAID, Women in Power Project Summary Report). This thesis was conducted to examine the various practices implemented by International Organizations to empower women in political participation. Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected for the study carried out in this thesis and content analysis was employed.