Illusion of female power in politics
Having women at the top doesn’t always translate into increased authority for those on the ground
ecent parliamentary elections in France resulted in a new record: 224 of the country’s lawmakers — or 39 per cent — are now women, up from just 155 after the last election. One of these women is Marine Le Pen, head of the far-right National Front and the runner-up in this year’s presidential election. But it was her rival, Emmanuel Macron, who is really responsible for the increase in female representation.
The new French president chose to give half his Cabinet positions to women. And his recently founded party, La Republique en Marche (LRM), and its coalition partner MoDem (Mouvement Democrate) selected women to fill more than 45 per cent of their respective parliamentary seats.
Let’s compare this to the United Kingdom. Recent elections there also saw more women than ever before elected to parliament. With four more women lawmakers than in the last legislative period, female representation now stands at 32 per cent. The prime minister, of course, is also a woman. And yet, within Theresa May’s party, only 21 per cent of its lawmakers are female.
Macron’s feminist agenda can be found in the LRM programme. The language is candid and praiseworthy. In the preamble on women’s rights, he talks about the so-called 20 per cent rule, arguing that women occupy 20 per cent fewer seats in parliament, receive 20 per cent less in wages, and that 20 per cent of women are raped at some stage in their lives. The document even talks about how men do just 20 per cent of the housework. Seriously, that’s what it says.
The third focus is on jobs. Simply having a job isn’t enough, Macron argues. Women also need to live from the income they earn. LRM wants to introduce regular spot checks to ensure the enforcement of equal pay. The new government also wants to set the example by providing parity in the distribution of administrative posts.
We will, of course, have to wait and see how Macron fares with his agenda. He has already gone back on his promise to create a Ministry of Women’s Affairs, and is being criticised for it by French feminists. Still, it’s clear that feminist Macron is trying his hardest.
Angela Merkel, the long-serving German Chancellor, is the most powerful woman in the world, showing that women have come to play a major role in the legislative process. All of that is long overdue and something we just need to get used to. But we cannot take it for granted either, as recent events in Washington demonstrate so clearly. The current version of United States health-care reform — “Trumpcare”, as it’s been dubbed — was drafted by an entirely male committee that is clearly in the dark about why health insurances should pay for prenatal screenings, for example. Men, after all, don’t get pregnant.
Budget cuts affecting women
And what about Britain’s May? Sure, she famously donned a T-shirt bearing the slogan “This is what a feminist looks like”. And yet many women remain unconvinced. Why? Because they hold her responsible, as Prime Minister and home secretary before that, for introducing budget cuts that mainly affect women.
Research conducted by the think tank, Women’s Budget Group, showed that 85 per cent of the people most affected by the social welfare cuts and tax changes are women. Austerity hits women much harder than men seeing as they generally earn a lot less than men.
There is a total of three female leaders of government in all of Europe. But what does that even mean? One of them, after all, is the Polish Prime Minister, Beata Szydlo, whose policies — starting with an (unsuccessful) attempt to introduce a blanket ban on abortion — seem to be paving the road back to the Stone Age. There’s also the enigmatically named “500+” child welfare programme introduced by Poland’s governing PiS (Law and Justice) party. The programme offers families with children €115 (Dh491) in child support per child — unless the family has an only child, which is often the case with single mothers.
Merkel recently found herself hosting the W20 Women’s Summit, where she was asked if she considers herself a feminist. Her answer — that she doesn’t “want to adorn herself with borrowed plumes” — came a bit reluctantly. But it was better than the answer given by United States President Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump, who was seated next to her. Ivanka stated loudly that yes, she is a feminist. Except, strictly speaking, that’s not true. Because being a real feminist means doing something for other women, not just fighting for one’s own place in society.
In Merkel’s defence, it should be acknowledged that, during her terms in office, her government introduced the universal right to a place in kindergarten, as well as laws aimed at bridging the male-female income gap and boosting female participation (via a quota system) in high-level management positions. Regarding the quota system, she recalled that for years, politicians “begged and politely asked the companies” to make their boards more balanced — all to no avail. And so in the end, the companies “earned the [quota] law by doing nothing”. In retrospect, it seems like the chancellor should have been able to anticipate the corporate foot-dragging and taken a more direct approach from the outset. But at least she’s happy with the result.
Suddeutsche Zeitung/ New York Times News Service