|
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.
___________________
http://eschatonnow.blogspot.com/
|
