Gender and Political Participation I

Abstract

In the first of two panels looking at the question of gender and political participation, this panel considers political participation from a variety of perspectives. In the first paper, Sophie Rétif presents the results of an investigation on associations' activists in France and Portugal. She points out that the sexual division of labour within the organisations can be analysed as the consequence of gendered processes in militant 'careers'. In the second paper, Katja Juvonen looks at the gendered nature of political participation in Chile, where women still struggle to gain access to power despite the democratic consolidation in Chile and the elimination of most legal discrimination against women. Her paper demonstrates the qualitative and quantitative gender-specific deficits regarding democratic participation at the formal, informal and institutional levels, and seeks to identify the existing societal and political barriers to women’s equal participation in politics. The influence of different levels of society on women’s political participation is a theme continued into the final paper, which focuses on Greece. In this paper, Yorgos Diakoumakos focuses on what the cultural practices of Greek women are and attempts to come to an understanding of if and how cultural practices, gender relations and politics are correlated. Moreover, the case of them forming a network of attitudes and behaviours is examined. The theme that unites these papers is the concept that political participation is gendered for a number of complex, intersecting factors, and that to understand women’s political participation, it is necessary to scratch below the surface and consider the underlying causes of gender differences.