Throughout various nations, a trend can be followed regarding the voting based on gender; female voters when compared to men in countries like the United Kingdom and Australia tend to favour the right side of the political spectrum while female voters in Canada and the United States tend to favour the left side. From the early 1960’s to 1990’s gender gap has evolved noticeably in the countries stated above. This essay will look at voting patterns of males and females in the United Kingdom, Australia, United States and Canada from 1960’s to 1990’s focusing mainly on females and will also highlight some of the reasons behind such voting patterns.
Gender gap is the difference between the male and female voters. The political spectrum is a one-dimensional spectrum which classifies different political positions based on their beliefs and values. On the left side of the are parties who believe in human rights, equality, freedom, internationalism and personal liberty and on the right side of the spectrum are parties who believe in little government interference, capitalism, less taxes, law and order and is generally a traditional government. Because not a lot of people fit perfectly on to one side of the spectrum, there have been a lot of proposals to change the spectrum and make it more inclusive. For example, a person may want equal rights and more freedom, but they do not want to pay more taxes. A person may have different beliefs when it comes to different political topics. The social aspect of the party’s belief may match the voter’s but the economic beliefs may not. Therefore, the spectrum is not perfect and needs revision.
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The gender gap in these countries could have been a result of women being less educated than men, them not having equal rights and women not being in the situation to
Mackerras, M., & McAllister, I. (1992). Compulsory Voting, Party Stability and Electoral Advantage in Australia. Electoral Studies , 18(2), 217-233. Retrieved from http://journals1.scholarsportal.info.proxy.bib.uottawa.ca/details.xqy?uri=/02613794/v18i0002/217_cvpsaeaia.xml
Another long term reason of why women didn’t gain the vote was the attitudes of women. Not all women wanted to vote. Most of the upper class women didn’t want to vote as they had a luxurious life and their husbands had j...
Among the many ways Americans can participate in politics, voting is considered one of the most common and important ways for Americans to get involved. The outcome of any election, especially at the national level, determines who will be making and enforcing the laws that all Americans must abide by. With this in mind one might assume that all Americans are active voters, but studies show the voter turnout is actually astonishingly low. With this unsettling trend it is important to know what statistics say about voter turnout as was as the four major factors that influence participation: Socioeconomic status, education, political environment, and state electoral laws, in order to help boost turnout in future elections.
Gender equality had always been a vast topic for the ancients to solve and for modern society to improve on. From the society's early beginning of Masculinity to the gender equality contemporary world that we are maintaining, year 2016 has been exactly a century since women in Canada had first received their right to vote in the 20th century. In today’s world, it is not uncommon or abnormal for abounding amounts of females voting or running for political parties. This hundred-year recognition was earned through many female’s and male’s withstand to rights for women to vote. Many trials and obstacles were present for women when they were fighting for their right
In Canada’s democratic government, voting is a powerful way for citizens to communicate their values. The leader who is chosen reflects the power of the Canadians’ values. Thus, to the government, every vote matters, assuring Canadians that their opinions matter. Today, Canada recognizes voting as a fundamental right for all of their citizens. The Canadian Charter of Rights effectively protects this right of all Canadians, even minorities, through section 3. “Every citizen of Canada has the right to vote in an election of members of the House of Commons or a large legislative assembly and to be qualified for membership therein”. This ensures equality for vote to all Canadians. Equality is to allow all Canadians equal opportunity, even if they are of different race, religion, gender and etcetera. However, in the past, this fundamental right has not always been accessible to all. In fact, voting was considered a privilege where citizens had to qualify to have the ability to vote. The rules were so strict that only eleven percent of the past population of Canada could have voted, compared to today’s seventy-eight percent. Many of these rules of who could vote and who could not were very unjust. This was especially seen in minority groups who did not have the franchise, the right to vote.. In this essay, it will be seen that the inequalities to vote made racial exclusions, religious exclusions and gender exclusions more pronounced. It will be seen that the government treated certain races with intentional discrimination creating a lack of an opportunity to vote. As well, the government showed prejudice to certain religious groups, denying these groups their ability to vote. And, finally, it will be seen that views against women aided ...
However, the female participation in politics is a staggeringly low number, thus in the Global Gender Gap report of 2016, it ranked Canada 35 out of 144 countries (Forum,2016). Having Canadian women more involved in politics ensures that different perspectives and opinions are represented where it matters the most, in the government that organizes and creates all the legislations. Policies such as abortion rights should not be determined by men, but by women who can relate to or understand the grounds of the rights. The barriers that women face can easily be diminished with effort. The media can do its part and treat female politicians like they treat their male counterparts, based on their proposed policies and not by what they may be wearing at the time. Families and society itself need to drop the “traditional family” model and realize that modern families share responsibilities so that both parents can strive in their respected careers. Lastly women themselves need to be reminded that if they have the right qualifications, they could go as far as they want, specifically in politics. By becoming a politician, they could still be a good wife and/or mother, but their self-perception needs to be improved by those around them who need to encourage them. Female politicians would be beneficial for everyone in a community, as the standard of who can lead a country changes and people realize that women are capable and qualified as
opposite effect can be seen in its history in which women in their country went from
"There is a reason for the country to embrace mandatory voting, and it may be the most compelling: democracy cannot be strong if citizenship is weak," _William A. Galtson_. Mandatory voting, or compulsory voting, is a law wherein citizens are required to vote, or suffer the consequence. Australia has had compulsory voting since putting it into effect in 1924. "The turnout of Australian elections has never fallen below 90 percent since the introduction of compulsory voting in 1924," _Australian Electoral Commission_. Achieving over 90 percent of the citizens voting for nearly a century shows that mandatory voting is working in regard to getting people to vote. Governments should have mandatory voting because the people will educate themselves
The underrepresentation of female’s interests and values is a global phenomenon as there is no country where women are equally represented on all levels of government. Since most women in the Western World gained the right to vote, there is no area of human life or development sector which is immune from the impact of inequitable gender relations. The central thesis of this paper is that women’s underrepresentation in elected office creates serious problems. This paper begins by analysing the key barriers of women to get into politics, especially into leading positions. It will then go on to the argument that women have special interests and needs, and that male politicians cannot represent those concerns adequately. Additionally, this paper describes further problems in today’s political world, such as women’s identification with
"Women Get the Vote." American Decades. Ed. Judith S. Baughman, Et Al. Vol. 3: 1920-1929. Detroit: Gale, 2001. U.S. History in Context. Web. 7 Mar. 2014.
The gender gap, one of the biggest problems across the world such as work wise. Men earn more money each year by the hundreds compared to their female counter parts in 2006 men earned an amount of 11 thousand dollars on the other hand for females they earned a small amount of 6 thousand compared to there male counter parts. In 2016 males earned an additional amount of 21 thousand dollars and the females earned an amount of 11 thousand dollars. Some countries tried to equalize the gap are France, India, Namibia, these countries might be the first if ever will be the ones to stop gender un-equality in there land. As for the countries that havent made a change in there gender gap but only has gotten worse are The UK, Germany, Austria, and plenty more. Afghanistan women for instance do most of the work in there country to ensure laws and more. This type of gender gap will highly effect societies, Educations, Incomes, and many other related topics of both
Just what is the “Gender Gap”? It is usually defined in terms of money, mainly wages, as most things are in America. Let’s face it, men generally make more money than women in all but the minimum wage level jobs. The more men climb the ladder to success, the more money they make. Women have succeeded in the private and governmental level and you would think that they would be on even footing with the men, but, truthfully they are not. The gap has not moved in more than ten years. In every part of the United States, men make more money, overall, than women. Women of color, women with children, women without children, married women, single women, women with educations, and those without education are all in the same boat. There is even a pay
The British Electoral System In democratic states, electoral systems are of great importance. Elections give people the right to choose their government; ensure that governments represent the majority (or largest minority) of the people; ensure peaceful changes of government (stability); allow people with fresh ideas an opportunity to enter the political arena; confer legitimacy of government and allow the government to expect people to obey their rules. Unfortunately the British system, Simple Plurality, (also known as 'First Past The Post') has come under fire for its alleged discrimination against smaller parties and its tendency to allow the losing party the ability to rule. Therefore, this creates a question - is the British system fair and democratic, or is it in need of drastic change? There is no denying that the British system has its advantages.
As the social system behaves parsimonious to the female group, the gender discrimination distinguished prominently. To be more specific, for the political participation in the United States, according to the report, eighteen percent of congressional seats are held by female and twenty- three of statewide elective offices are held by female officers, which has decreased from the report of 2001. As the "sociological and societal norm discourages women from running", women act less active in political leadership and activities. More commonly, in different workplace employment, since women are less likely to receive levels of appointments and offer of academic positions, it's harder for women to receive a job offer with the comparison to equally qualified male. By contrast, many argue that American female citizens entitle equal rights as the male citizens, which strongly certify that the equal treatment toward genders. However, practically, with regards of the payment gap in the United States, the payment that women earned are nineteen percent less than the male employees. Caused by the replacement of larger percentages of both high-paying and low-paying jobs , the wage inequality kept increasing since 1980s. As the unfair results in education, careers, and politics, women earn less opportunities under the
The implementation of gender quotas in electoral politics is a mean to combat the democratic deficit that occurs when a social group is excluded from the political sphere due to structural or cultural reasons. Quotas are a form of affirmative action/positive discrimination which is meant to remove the structural and cultural obstacles that keep women out of the formal political ...