Background Document - Danish Institute for Parties and Democracy

INTRODUCTION
Defining young women is the first task. Typically, being young falls within the ages of
0 and 30. However, when talking about the right to vote, it is generally at the age of 18
that young people attain that right. A third pertinent point may be put forward when
talking about an interest in politics. While it is from 18 years of age that most countries
allow the right to vote, politics can be a subject of interest for those who have yet to
reach the legal voting age.
In the current political scene, political parties play a central role in the governance
of modern democracies as they are the bridge between civil society and government.
As such, any decline in their voluntary base can be seen as a source of weakening the
weight of civil society in the democratic debate. So the recruit of members is in some
ways a way to promote a healthy democracy.
Additionally, if political parties are bridges between citizens and the state, the
more diverse the citizens are within political parties, the more strength the democracy
has. To be diverse, political parties need to reach out to young women. If political
parties are the gatekeepers to women’s advancement to power, and as the UN Convention
of the Rights of the Child recognises the right of children and young people to be
involved in decision-making (1989), this is a strong case for political parties to reach
out and promote more young women to be actively involved in politics.
This paper will first review the triple challenge that political parties have to grasp
in order to get more young women into politics; positive and negative experiences
will highlight how political parties answer the triple challenge; and lastly, recommendations
will be made.
“We know that the guys have their own
networks, even in equal societies, there are
associations that have existed for hundreds of years
and they still do not let us women in. We need to have
our own networks supporting each other.”
AN OVERALL DECLINE OF ELECTORAL PARTICIPATION
AND PARTY PARTICIPATION
International literature on political participation shows that there is an overall decline
in electoral participation and also in the participation in political parties. Overall,
since the mid-1980s, there is a notable decline in voter turnout except in countries
that enjoy some form of compulsory voting. Five of the top seven countries with the
highest voter turnout – Australia, Nauru, Singapore, Belgium, and Liechtenstein – enforce
compulsory voting laws.
The voter turnout decline runs parallel with the membership of political parties.
Whiteley sees in the decline the increasingly closer relationship between political parties
and the state. This, in turn, has converted active members into ‘unpaid state bureaucrats’
due to increased regulation and control.
The increasingly close relationship between political parties and the state means
that there is ‘little incentive to recruit or retain members for financial reasons’ as po-
WOMEN IN POLITICS DANISH INSTITUTE FOR PARTIES AND DEMOCRACY PAGE 10
ASTRID THORS
MP OF THE PARLIAMENT OF FINLAND AND FORMER MINISTER OF IMMIGRATION AND EUROPEAN AFFAIRS