barriers to women in government

-does it put off men to hear the concerns of females, and be told there are distinct female issue. Saying to men that child care is more important to women is the reality (of course this is not always the case) though it may have the effect of “putting off” men.

-a once elected member speaks on her experience in a political council that was half man and women compared to one that is not. She states that the discussion progresses differently when women are involved. The councils that included more women were less competitive and seem to explore the issues in more depth with an attitude of support to everyone’s opinions.

-it seems men and women do discuss different things and thus would talk about politics differently when they come to the political table

-The patriarchal history of the system polarizes the discussion into a zero sum game with “winners and looser”. The blood sport nature of such a political arena can make women feel as though they do not want to be a part of it. The structure was set up by men: the shoe was designed by men and women have trouble wearing it. In very literal terms technology should be able to help break down the idea that might is right, and the one who yells the loudest has the better point. There is no volume to the voice of a blogger or someone on twitter.

-on average women that run for a political party do so in a ridding where that party does not have a good history, so do we need to change the party operations

-many of the policies that this country is built on would likely be every different if we removed the female opinion. It seems that when the female perspective has contributed to the conversation the outcome is different. There is a need to remind women of this fact, and that their voice is needed because it does effect change so they need to make sure they speak up, continually and more often.

- it keeps coming up that system structure needs to be changed, but this does not, to many women, mean drawing a quota for female leaders.

-in Sweden they mandated that 50% of cabinet must be female, in fact many countries have a quota. But does this solution solve the problem or miss the problem in our education that does not empower women to get involved. Maybe it is about keeping dreams alive despite what group they are a part of.

- Our culture may still direct women to certain tasks that are more or a support role, or do women agree to do these roles and act as their own worst enemy ie; the self fulfilling prophecy.Technology might help to remind women of this and direct them to less gender stereotypical employment.