Feminization Of British Politics Since The New Labour

It is widely acknowledged that gender equality has become a hotspot around the world.In the past,inequality that women met was manifested in their little access to political career and also their underrepresented concerns in laws and policies.Advocators of gender equality believe that women deserve equal status and interests and should not be underrepresented in all aspects of the society simply because of their gender.In order to improve their status,women have been striving for gender equality,rights and interests that they deserve as citizens.After centuries of struggle,currently women earn a better condition than they did in the past and gender equality has become a term that is accepted and approved by all.In the British case,women over 30 earned their suffrage by the Representation of the People Act 1918 and more women policies through the years.Feminization of British politics has become more obvious.This dissertation deals with the process of feminization of British politics.The United Kingdom is one of the origins of the first wave of women's movements for political gender parity but encountered twists and turns during its political feminization.By examining the feminization of British politics since the New Labour took office in 1997,this dissertation starts with the watershed of feminization of British politics,for the New Labour's All-women Shortlists and Minister for Women were regarded as a huge step for the whole process,paving way for further feminization.The Conservative/Liberal Democrats coalition formed in 2010 continued the legacy left by the Labour governments.It seems that gender equality has become a consensus among the main political parties in Britain.This dissertation consists of two parts,theoretical framework and practical evidence.The theoretical part provides framework and patterns for the latter part,for many conceptions used in the analysis of the evidence are directly linked to them.Based on other researchers' previous works on feminism,gender and politics,the author maintains that political representation includes formalistic representation,descriptive representation,symbolic representation and substantive representation.Among the four types of representation,descriptive representation and substantive representation can reflect the degree of political representation.Descriptive representation of British women was improved as the number of women in politics rises,especially when Theresa May became the second female Prime Minister in British history.For advocators in Britain,May certainly means hope for women's equal political representation,especially when taking her record on women's issues into consideration.Substantive representation is the one through which feminization of politics can be achieved,for it stresses whether a representative actually "acts for" those being represented in the interest of them when making policies.That is why women policies also need to be examined.All the three main political parties in the UK are analyzed in terms of their ideologies and traditions on feminization and their efforts towards gender equality in politics.This dissertation analyzes reasons behind phenomena,that is,the consensus on feminizing politics that has been built among main political parties in the UK.It can be attributed to several factors:first,in the post-war world,women's function has been manifested and acknowledged.Women also have a stronger voice with better economic status.Both home and abroad,women issue moves towards the spotlight,shaping a proper environment for feminization of British politics.The Third and Fourth waves of feminism across the world back up the feminization with ideas and theoretical support.Women organizations,such as Fawcett Society,provide the gender equality advocators with platforms and also exert pressure on the authority with movements.Moreover,from perspective of political parties,they build woman-friendly images to win elections in a large degree.Thus it is what the party does for women after it wins elections that counts for real feminization.All of the factors contribute to the formation of the consensus.Yet one cannot deny that political gender equality is still far from being achieved in the UK,in spite of the wide acknowledgement of the rhetoric.In the foreseeable future,women will still face underrepresentation and inequality,for the consensus formed among parties is a rather loose one.For one thing,as mentioned above,concerns about women issue and promises to stand for women are may be parties' tools to attract female voters and thus win elections.For another,it is very difficult for women to act as a union due to the multiplicity of one's identity.Women are not only representatives of their gender,but also their constituencies,their parties,their trade unions and so on.Therefore,even the number of women in decision-making bodies increases,it does not necessarily mean that women' s interests can be fully and equally represented.The Brexit will inevitably bring some challenges to the consensus on feminization.First,since the economy is the most directly affected area after terminating the membership of the single market and custom union,negative economic implications may affect women more,just as women have suffered more than men did in the period of austerity.Second,women's equality that is preciously attributed to EU membership may be affected with the implementation of the Great Repeal Bill.Women organizations urge the government to codify the promises by including a clause in the Great Repeal Bill to make sure that the current levels of equalities protection will remain when EU law is transposed into UK law,which was denied by the government in response.Last,the insufficiency of women's presence in the Brexit negotiation team is obvious and has disappointed many feminists.The consensus on gender equality in decision-making process is neglected when it really comes to a decision-making moment.In conclusion,British party politics has been feminized and moved towards gender equality to a large extent since 1997,but it is a loose consensus in nature,and seems to have entered a time of stagnancy in the current Brexit context.