TranceAddict Forums (www.tranceaddict.com/forums)
- Political Discussion / Debate
-- The Absence of Women in Political Discussions
Pages (3): « 1 [2] 3 »

quote:

Originally posted by tathi politics is just gossip about the world stage

noob :c

42% in Norway eh! Damn you Norway! Damn your Trolls, and mostly damn your internet country code!

quote:

Originally posted by ONION noob :c

wtf are you doing here? get back on ITM

quote:

% Women %Men EU 23 77 Denmark 43 57 Norway 42 58 Finland 39 61 Sweden 37 63 Netherlands 36 64 Iceland 33 67 United Kingdom 32 68 France 29 71 Luxembourg 29 71 Germany 27 73 Austria 24 76 Belgium 22 78 Ireland 22 78 Liechtenstein 20 80 Spain 18 82 Greece 13 87 Italy 9 91 Portugal 8 92

that is almost exactly a list from north to south!! Have to more than coincidence. Any theories to why we have more women in politics in the north?

quote:

Originally posted by Smeagol that is almost exactly a list from north to south!! Have to more than coincidence. Any theories to why we have more women in politics in the north?

Cos the one's in the south are all busy gettin a sun tan?

quote:

Originally posted by Smeagol that is almost exactly a list from north to south!! Have to more than coincidence. Any theories to why we have more women in politics in the north?

Interesting point, but it definetly has to do with our different cultures and views on women. The question is just why are southern ppl more conservative when it comes to that than northern ppl?

^^^^ Centuries of Catholicism, I guess.

Re: The Absence of Women in Political Discussions

quote:

Originally posted by kush paintings I brought this up a couple of weeks ago in the chillout thread, but belive that it warrants a better discussion. I frequent the political crossfire forums, which I highly recommend, and I have noticed that there are very few women there. As we all know, there are very few women in here, PDD. So I ask, why is this? I am genuinely worried. I go to a very good college, where even the idiots are smart. However, I have noticed that my male friends have far more intriguing discussions about politics, philosophy, etc. While my female friends are capable of talking about these subjects, the never bring them up. When we are all together, the females usually do not have much to say, although I know they are smart enough to contribute. Can someone please explain this to me, preferably a female?

i agree with dervish on the part of not wanting to deal with confrontation, i also agree with you on the part that a good number of females in general do have a level of, shall we say, "comfort" in discussing other things, i.e gossip, clothing, men, etc etc...

for my .02, i'm only speaking on my own behalf, not for the majourity of the females because i'll never know how many tails i'll step on if i do... as stated on my post on the political chill out thread, i'm skittish when it comes to confrontation but besides that, i also feel that unless i have a solid understanding and a good knowledge of the facts regarding the topic at hand, i don't feel i should even be trying to contribute to the discussion/debate and waste everyone's time listening to me jabber mindlessly... however, that doesn't mean that i cannot sit/lurk and listen/read what everyone has to say and slowly learn and pick up on what is going on...

i do hope to be able to muster up the gumption to put in my .02 on some political throwdowns soon...

I think when asking questions like this, you have to look at internet demographics. Fact is, unless the forum is specifically aimed at women, there is going to me a much higher ratio of men posting there than women (and - without having any facts to back this up - you're basically looking at ratios of 4:1 plus. I would wage that any general interest forum, such as this one, will have a male to female ratio approaching that sort of level). I don't know why this is (maybe females have, you know, real lives to worry about ) but the internet and internet forums are still primarily the domain of the male.

As for why there aren't many women in governments, part of the reason has to do with the generation that many politicians grew up in (most high-ranking politicians are, after-all, in their 50s or older). This was the pre-feminist age, where "gender-roles" were still fairly pronounced and where politics, I'm sure, was seen as a primarily masculine pursuit. If this is true then it should be the expectation that the ratios will even out over the next 20 or so years.

Another reason for the absence of women may have to do with the fact that many of the mechanics of politics in themselves simply don't appeal to women. Much of politics has to do with the Machiavellian pursuit of power and the encorporation of the concept of realpolitik once this power is acheived (that is, the concept of politics as an end in itself rather than a means to an end) and women, for whatever reason, simply (and rightly to a large extent) do not find these methods of power-brokering to be appealing. Women, you will find, are more commonly found in less populist parties (where the cut-throat desire to obtain and consolidate power is less pronounced - 3 of the 4 last leaders of the party I support, for instance, have been women) and in grass-roots campaigns, perhaps, for this very reason.

As for why you don't meet many women in "real-life" who are into politics? Well, I think political apathy is a common trait of all members of the human race and it most certainly isn't confined to a specific gender. I can think of precisely 0 females I know that are particularly into politics and precisely 1 male. No matter which way you look at it, it's just a fact of life that a very small number of people you meet are going to be interested in talking about politics (in fact, my last relationship, now that I think about it, began to die on its arse at about the point where I brought up last years Australian election, passively asking who she was considering voting for, and she replied "I don't know, I don't really watch the news..." ).

So, I don't know. There are a lot of reasons why women don't seem to be that interested in politics and I don't think it's possible to give a single, simple answer.

quote:

Originally posted by trancaholic ^^^^ Centuries of Catholicism, I guess.

I was originally going to laugh at that, but you seem to be onto something. 5 of the last 6 ranking nations on that table are predominantly Catholic (I had to google Liechtenstein, but, sure enough, it's 80% Roman Catholic) and the highest-ranking traditionally Catholic nation there is France, which is predominantly secular these days anyway. I think it's a given that nations with a conservative ethos will be bigger on well-defined gender-roles and the subjugation of women that those with a more progressive ethos and given that Catholicism has an undeniably conservative slant to its philosophies, this may very well explain the lack of women in the parliaments of Catholic nations.

i agree with you renegade
anyways i think in southern countries people are more conservative than in the north u can see how the progresses they made in the fields of researches bio technologies and women and the power
i hope it will change and that the women will get more implicated in the politics but u have to take into account that most of the women prefer aswell to raise a family and it takes time ....when a man will be focused on the researche of the power on the contrary the woman may prefer to have stability security and a family so it has to do with differents aspirations not the same goals ....a politic career is particular and you have to be strong and women may not support such a pressure but i dunno there are exceptions of course

I used to post in here on a daily basis under my old handle. Since then however, life has taken such a hold on me that I find it difficult to sit online longer than just enough time to browse (not even respond) to emails. However, I am fortunate enough to have a few friends which I meet up with to discuss political matters (usually over coffee) from time to time. And yes, they are mostly men, for women seem to find it uncomfortable to discuss such things. If it has been a while though since my last rant, I feel sorry for the victims ears, because I will talk them off.

quote:

Originally posted by Renegade I was originally going to laugh at that

Preposterous! Apparently, I'm throwing my gems for inappreciative pigs here.

quote:

Originally posted by Renegade but you seem to be onto something. 5 of the last 6 ranking nations on that table are predominantly Catholic (I had to google Liechtenstein, but, sure enough, it's 80% Roman Catholic) and the highest-ranking traditionally Catholic nation there is France, which is predominantly secular these days anyway. I think it's a given that nations with a conservative ethos will be bigger on well-defined gender-roles and the subjugation of women that those with a more progressive ethos and given that Catholicism has an undeniably conservative slant to its philosophies, this may very well explain the lack of women in the parliaments of Catholic nations.

I like your reasoning supporting my conjecture. When I wrote it I had the dominance of the Catholic Church (i.e. the institution) in mind. The church has clearly been a male-dominated institution, and has been preaching in a most normative manner. In the protestant church, there has been no central guidance, but the bible itself, and local clergymen have been given much freedom in interpreting it. Consequently, the notion that men should be more adept at being in touch with God has been absent from protestantism, and feminism has had more favourable conditions to grow strong.

EDIT: Reading that again, I'm not sure it makes a lot of sense. Long weekend - too little sleep.

I've never seen the forum more active with posts from women than today .

quote:

Originally posted by trancaholic EDIT: Reading that again, I'm not sure it makes a lot of sense. Long weekend - too little sleep.

Yeah, I know how you feel...

But seriously, that made sense. There's an inherent misogeny to most of the more literalistic Christian faiths, but I'm not sure that this is necessarily restricted to Cathololicism. While it's not something that is quite as common in Europe, in Australia and the US most of the more conservative and fundamentalist Christian sects tend to be protestant (i.e. pentacostal, evangelical, baptist, lutheran etc.) rather than Catholic. This is why I said it's nations that have any sort of conservative ethos (which would, generally, include Australia) that lack women in parliament, rather than merely Catholic ones.

quote:

Originally posted by occrider I've never seen the forum more active with posts from women than today .

Yeah, three. Go PDD!

I think that nordic countries are renowned for their social systems, and for many decades they have had an advanced level of gender equality, women are treated as individuals with needs and rights of their own, rather than as wives or mothers. They also have had for many decades a well developed support system for working mothers, creches and child minding facilities, that other countries in Europe do not have, and these are all public facilities that are guarenteed for every women if she decides to have children, so it is quite easy to see why nordic countries would have more women participating in the workforce in general and as a result a higher percentage of women involved in politics as well. Rather than as a result of other countries being catholic, but i would accept cultural differences as being a very real part of the problem.

quote:

Originally posted by occrider I've never seen the forum more active with posts from women than today .

Yeah, what the hell is happening here? It seems like we're starting to loose our male supremacy on this forum!

quote:

Originally posted by DrUg_Tit0 Yeah, what the hell is happening here? It seems like we're starting to loose our male supremacy on this forum!

Yea maybe we should just ignore them and hope they go away? Or failing that, lets just give ourselves far higher wages and hope they realise their lot in life!

quote:

Originally posted by DrUg_Tit0 Yeah, what the hell is happening here? It seems like we're starting to loose our male supremacy on this forum!

Quit your bitching! You are just having a difficult time adjusting to the fact that women are more intelligent than men.

As well as adjusting to the fact that we tend to do more with our lives than sit online and bitch about how there's no men online.

quote:

Originally posted by occrider I've never seen the forum more active with posts from women than today .

Well most women don't care to talk politics, but they would never pass up an opporunity to talk about themselves.

quote:

Originally posted by squirrelly Quit your bitching! You are just having a difficult time adjusting to the fact that women are more intelligent than men.

Interesting you should say that, because this was on the front page of The Australian newspaper today:

quote:

Girls do better than boys Kate Legge, Social affairs writer May 17, 2005 GIRLS interact better than boys at a younger age than first thought and also learn to walk and talk earlier, according to a groundbreaking study that sheds new light on the development of Australian children from infancy through to school age. Data from a new survey of 10,000 children and their families shows that girls do better than boys on social, educational and physical milestones in the very first year of life - differences that become more pronounced by the time they reach school. The gender divide influences learning and academic competency, social and emotional skills and physical performance. [...] Boys lead girls in every measure of disengagement and psychological disorder from attention deficit syndromes to at-risk social behaviour. The latest neuro-imaging research has identified gender differences in brain maturation, with boys slower to develop impulse control and executive planning skills.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.a...255E601,00.html

We're equal, but definitely not the same.

Perhaps these inherent neurological differences may explain why the sexes tend to be drawn to different pursuits...

quote:

Originally posted by squirrelly Quit your bitching! You are just having a difficult time adjusting to the fact that women are more intelligent than men. As well as adjusting to the fact that we tend to do more with our lives than sit online and bitch about how there's no men online.

Thank god we're still stronger and can beat you up if you don't obey!

quote:

Originally posted by Nou Well if you think about the PDD... not many women that sign up to TA are very smart, most are coke or attention whores, or too young to even know what government is or how it works or what it does or that it even exists. thats just TA tho.

You wouldn't be referring to a certain someone who is reknown on here for 8ballin' the Charlie would ya?

quote:

Originally posted by Arbiter Well most women don't care to talk politics, but they would never pass up an opporunity to talk about themselves.

Excuse me!

quote:

Originally posted by squirrelly Excuse me!

quote:

Originally posted by squirrelly I used to post in here on a daily basis under my old handle. Since then however, life has taken such a hold on me that I find it difficult to sit online longer than just enough time to browse (not even respond) to emails. However, I am fortunate enough to have a few friends which I meet up with to discuss political matters (usually over coffee) from time to time.

sorry, it had to be done

LOL, that is just too funny!

Lets go on with the next one

quote:

Originally posted by h0tsweetbabyd0l im a girl and i love this forum unfortunately if i don't post very much in there that's simply because i don't get time to check TA because i have a lot to study and at the moment i have my finals ...im in law school 2nd year and im 19 yrs ....well most of the girls prefer gossiping and i realize that i don't talk a lot about politics or news with my friends girls but i got a few who really like it too so no ...girls like that too

Powered by: vBulletin
Copyright © 2000-2021, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.