Fran Di Fazio
130 years after New Zealand became the first country to grant women suffrage, more women than ever are in political positions. When it comes to filling the abysmal gender power gap, more women in politics is good news – but numbers alone don’t tell the story.
Compared to a decade ago, the number of women acting as heads of state and working in government have grown by 6% and 2.5% respectively, according to data released by UN Women and the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU). This points to a stronger presence of women in political institutions across the globe.
But it’s not all good news. Regionally there are still high gender disparities in politics, meaning a gendered division in decision-making. Despite more women overseeing important policy areas, many are still – for the most part – excluded from critical portfolios such as the economy, defence and energy.
Life Beyond the glass ceiling
“the last decade saw a dramatic increase in women’s involvement with far-right movements”
‘Breaking the glass ceiling’, a metaphor for the systemic gatekeeping of women from higher positions of power, is often seen as a major indicator of feminist progress. However, this notion rests on the dangerous assumption that women leaders, just by virtue of their gender, are inherently open-minded and compassionate. In fact, the last decade has seen a dramatic surge in women’s involvement with far-right movements, especially in Europe.
On the other hand, progressive politics worldwide have been hit by the resignations of some prominent and outright progressive women leaders. New Zealand’s Jacinda Ardern and Scotland’s Nicola Sturgeon stepped down from their leadership roles earlier this year, while Finnish centre-left PM Sanna Marin will also leave office soon, after losing April’s general election.
Margaret Thatcher, who served as British PM from 1979 to 1990, was perhaps the most significant ‘first woman’ in politics. She certainly remains one of the most divisive figures in political history, polarising commentators between praising her assertiveness and condemning her ruthlessness. Former US President and outspoken feminist Barack Obama called her “an example to our daughters” for proving “that there is no glass ceiling that can’t be shattered.”
“Her political power shouldn’t be celebrated solely on the basis of her womenhood”
However, Thatcher arguably did little to nothing for women, or any other vulnerable group in society for that matter. She never championed women’s empowerment beyond her own, but rather actively hurt social minorities and destroyed entire communities through economic austerity measures. Her political power shouldn’t be celebrated solely on the basis of her womanhood.
Rising female politicians in Italy
More recently, Italian politician Giorgia Meloni has smashed one of the thickest glass ceilings in Europe, becoming the country’s first female PM. She is also the most far-right leader since the Republic’s establishment in 1946, following the fall of Mussolini’s fascist regime.
She started her political career in the neo-fascist Italian Social Movement – the direct post-war descendant of the Italian Fascist Party. She has praised Mussolini in the past, describing him as “a good politician.”
“The rivalry between these radically different women puts Italy at a crossroads”
Shortly after Giorgia Meloni took office, the centre-left Democratic Party elected its first woman secretary. Elly Schlein, a feminist, bisexual woman of Jewish heritage, has promised to lead the party towards a left-wing agenda, more progressive than the party’s historically centrist standards. The rivalry between these radically different women puts Italy at a crossroads in its traditionally conservative political history and embodies the fundamental tension seen in feminist discourse around female politicians.
Female Politicians and the patriarchy
The first stages of Meloni and Schlein’s political rivalry are highlighting visible disparities concerning the expression and representation of their gender identity. While sexist biases tend to affect the coverage of women leaders across the political spectrum, feminist and progressive women are vulnerable to more vicious abuse.
Elly Schlein’s background, sexual orientation and Jewish heritage have attracted vitriolic reactions from the public, the press and her political opponents. To Meloni’s credit, she has condemned the violent antisemitism directed at her rival. However, critics have pointed out, her institutional role as PM might have played a bigger part in this regard rather than a genuine aversion to misogyny.
“Meloni was silent when her allies unleashed misogynistic campaign against female political rivals in the past.”
For instance, Meloni was silent when her allies unleashed misogynistic campaigns against female political rivals in the past. Only a few years ago, Matteo Salvini, now serving as Meloni’s Deputy Prime Minister, unleashed a campaign of online and offline harassment against Senate speaker and champion of asylum seekers’ rights Laura Boldrini. She explicitly compared her to an inflatable sex doll at a political rally in 2016. A woman in a position of power does not necessarily ensure that women’s interests are protected, or that the patriarchy is punished.
The patriarchal dividend in politics
Although Meloni has embraced the ‘glass ceiling’ rhetoric, her ambivalent relationship with other women and her own gender is reminiscent of Thatcher’s identity in a political sense. For instance, she has refused to use the grammatical feminine for her political title, sticking to the masculine form. If anything, she leverages her womanhood to advance her ultra-conservative politics. Highlighting her identity as a mother, she has spoken out against women’s and LGBTQ+ rights, with her government openly fighting same-sex couples over parental rights and working to legally prosecute surrogacy even outside of national borders.
Moreover, her cabinet reflects the gendered division of decision-making found by the UN Women-IPU survey. Half of her six women ministers oversee so-called ‘ministries without portfolio’, meaning ministries that are not independent.
“powerful conservative women like Giorgia Meloni and her illustrious predecessors prevent real feminist progress.”
By proudly upholding patriarchal values repackaged as female empowerment, powerful conservative women like Giorgia Meloni and her illustrious predecessors prevent real feminist progress. By surrounding themselves with male collaborators, they work directly against less privileged women and people from disadvantaged backgrounds. The patriarchal society rewards them, as they do little to challenge it.
Emancipation, therefore, cannot rely solely on the gender of those in power. We need women and minorities in politics now more than ever, but not as tokens. We need truly progressive leaders who can bring about social change by virtue of their ideas and skills.
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Featured image courtesy of Brianna Tucker via Unsplash. No changes were made to this image. Image license found here.
Fran Di Fazio
Fran is a journalist with bylines in community news media and national magazines and a Twitter Editor at Empoword Journalism. They aim to uplift voices from marginalised and underprivileged communities through their work. They're a bookworm, a nature-lover and a chaotic good.