Background Document - Danish Institute for Parties and Democracy

litical parties ‘rely on the state to fund their activities’. 1 In other words, it could be said
that while there is an overall decline in political engagement, there is also an overall
lack of interest in engaging new, active members in political parties.
THE CHALLENGE OF GETTING MORE WOMEN INTO POLITICS
The challenge of the overall decline of membership numbers is reinforced by the historical
challenges women have had in getting a fair share of the political scene. Young
women may be facing the same daunting challenges. Any move in getting more young
women into political parties will need to have an understanding of these challenges.
Only since the beginning of the 20th century did women start to have the right to
vote. For some countries, such as Saudi Arabia, women will have the right to vote and
to run for municipal election only in 2015. Switzerland gave women the right to vote
in the 1990s.
Explanations justifying not giving women the right to vote include: Women were
not interested in politics; it is impossible to find women who want to run for elections;
and women would vote as their priest directed. In some countries active political
policies had to be put in place in order to promote the greater inclusion of women
in decision-making positions.
Nowadays, few countries have reached equality in political representation and
while quotas have been implemented in political parties or for decision-making positions,
‘its significant effect in having the inclusion of women on candidate lists ultimately
depends on the political will of the parties and effective enforcement of the
law’. 2
Overall, women still constitute only 19.6 per cent of the members of parliament
around the world. Men have historically dominated parties despite women making
great strides in recent decades. For the most part, the structural constraints women
have to face if they wish for a political career are the same within political parties. And
while there may be many women at the base, there are very few at the top. As power
increases, the number of women decreases.
In the seven countries for which data was available, 51 per cent of active party
members were women, of which generally only 16 per cent of party presidents or
secretaries were women. Men commonly hold the most senior or powerful positions
(president, secretary general, economic secretary, programming secretary, etc.). Women
tend to occupy less influential positions such as minutes secretary, archivist, or
director of training or culture.
This lack of political representation within political parties is due to its ‘highly
gendered institutions that incorporated women on a different basis from men and
in ways that impeded their access to leadership positions’. 3 So it is a challenging and
daunting task facing young women indeed.
THE CHALLENGE OF GETTING MORE YOUNG PEOPLE INTO POLITICS
As for women in politics, the challenges for young people in politics are just as harsh.
For example, while 65% of the African population are under 35, the parliament of the
different countries of the whole continent do not meet the challenges in matters of
political representation of such a young population. Political parties have historically
ignored young people and young people’s interests despite being, on a world scale,
half of the population. And while it is hard for young men to attain real opportunities
to reach decision-making positions within political organisations, it is even harder for
young women.
1 Whiteley, 2011, 22
2 International IDEA, 2012, 11-12
3 International IDEA, 2005, 115
WOMEN IN POLITICS DANISH INSTITUTE FOR PARTIES AND DEMOCRACY PAGE 11