Category: Exclusive 
2009-02-20
"If a society does not wage a common struggle to attain a common goal with its women and men, scientifically there is no way for it to get civilized or developed." -- Mustafa Kemal Ataturk
Citizens participate politically to obtain a share in the allocation of social resources. But in the contemporary world we see an imbalance characterized by the relative under participation of women. We will evaluate reasons for this imbalance in Georgia then examine women's participation in elections, public service, political parties and associations.
While in the Soviet era women's status was improved, they were still almost totally deprived of real opportunities for the realization of political rights. Reform made it possible for them to hold some public offices. There were associations headed by women. Role of women was declaratively promoted as of other representatives o vulnerable groups in order to show that equality exists in the society. This emancipation from above somehow delayed conscious participation of women in politics. It was only in the 1980s that Georgian woman began to see herself as a political actor rather than as a housewife at home with a life based only on her family.
INVISIBLE BARRIERS
Turkey's parliament provides a way for women to participate in politics but barriers still exist to their activity:
--Through the modernization process, the belief that being a female politician would hinder women's traditional family role has lost its significance but not totally disappeared. Recent research shows 68% of women said involvement would not create problems with their spouses and that some problems with children might arise but could be solved.
--Women often prefer other occupations and can view politics as interfering with their career plans.
--Politics requires huge expenditures and Georgian women do not have much capital.
--Women do not benefit completely from educational opportunities, a factor hindering their participation in an elitist democracy.
--A prevailing view views women's nature appropriate to carry out familial roles while men deal with other issues. This belief still lingers on among a significant portion of society wand women themselves.
VOTING BEHAVIOR
Since voting demands no extra activity, women vote independently. The trend over time is that weakened patriarchal structure and women's entry in the labor force leads to more independent decisionmaking by women.
Researching the relationship between social situation and voting behavior yields interesting results. Married women participate in elections more than single or widowed ones. The reason might be attributed to husband and wife voting as units. However married women still participate 8% less than their spouses.. In general, working women vote more than housewives, since they are integrated in the wider society through work.
WOMEN IN PUBLIC SERVICE
In the newly elected Georgian Parliament there are 7 female MPs, which constitutes 9% of the total number of MPs. It is obvious that such number of women in the Parliament is too small, however situation is even worse at the second glance, the thing is that representatives of the certain political parties of the opposition block did not enter the Parliament and percentage appears to seem higher, then it actually is.
There is one more significant trend in Georgian female participation, it is not genuine and usually confined to the several bright personalities, present in the higher hierarchy of that or those political party, while ordinary women stay aside of the political struggle. This year Georgia also lost its “main symbol of female participation”: Speaker of the Parliament is not female any more. Symbolic role of woman as reconciliation and balance resource is sill bear in mind, but not used anyhow practically, which has been shown by pre-election campaign and severe political struggle.
Female MPs usually had university degrees or were very successful professionals. They had to have more qualifications in comparison to male colleagues, and they often grew up in very politicized families.
Indeed, women MPs were rather often following a family tradition. They entered politics either as "husband's wife or father's daughter" or because of personal resentment stemming from a political event affecting their family.
In local governments and municipal councils the proportion of women participants' is greater:
The reason behind this extended participation in local politics is that municipal activities are closer to ordinary life and affect family affairs. Also municipal decision making processes are less important than national politics so women can be deemed more "capable" of holding the posts.
Number of women within the executive branch of power is traditionally higher, because is not connected to the difficult process of campaigning, being elected, which requires resources and power women in Georgia still lack.
WOMEN IN POLITICAL PARTIES
Although most political parties claim a balance between men and women in their ranks, women's relationships to political parties are different from men's. Even when they had not yet secured the right to vote and stand for office, women were a significant presence in the parties in an organizational support or "pink-collar" capacity: making coffee, taking minutes, licking stamps, answering the telephone, etc. Today's reality is, of course, less stereotypical, but the same model of participation applies: the higher one looks in the party hierarchy, the fewer women one finds.
Proper Packaging
Whereas men take politics very seriously female politicians tend to regard their own political involvement as a pastime. Women in politics would be helping their own cause if they become a little more professional. They should read both for knowledge and pleasure, become computer literate, use the Internet, hire professional image-makers and consult experts on strategies for opening campaign offices, etc. They need to form caucuses and groups for bargaining and also associate with their male colleagues, especially the experienced ones.
Sustained Interest
The tendency of female politicians to quit on losing once has been highlighted. Female politicians should learn the art of perseverance from their male counterparts. It is no exaggeration that the Sierra Leone political landscape is almost fully occupied by men who have been involved for years. On the other hand, new women crop up at every election and previous participants are virtually forgotten. Women who lose elections should regard it as a learning experience and try again and again, just like the men.
Changing the practice within politics
Parties that wish to change their culture may start with the timing of meetings to make them more family friendly. However it is not just the timing of meetings, but the venues in which they are held that can be a problem for women.
Changing the culture of a political party can be a very slow process. This has led many activists to conclude that the most effective strategy for increasing the number of women in politics is through some sort of quota system
CONCLUSION
Georgian women seem to participate in politics more actively than before. This may attributed to rapid modernization and eradication of the patriarchal, traditional social structure. Women are more active in local than national politics. In civil service, occupation and career opportunities are improved but still unequal. In political parties, women remain as "vote gatherers" rather than "decisionmakers."
Women remain on the margins of Georgian politics, at least in terms of their presence in political institutions. Whereas the Mary Wollstonecraft dilemma opposes Universality and Difference, I propose instead that these two aspects be reconciled as one, using the notion of parity. Parity assumes that democratic forums should be composed of roughly half women and half men. Certain opposing voices suggest that citizenship is universal, and has no gender, no skin colour, no age, and so on. But a mere glance at the sociodemographic composition of the Parliament is sufficient to reveal that, on the contrary, the citizen representative is usually a male, in the prime of life, etc. In calling for democratic institutions that harmonize rather than exclude differences, notably by including a more or less equal proportion of women and men, parity stands forth as the road to Universality.
INSTEAD of PS: DEMAND FOR EQUALITY?
Women's Coalition of Georgia (network of Georgian women’s NGOs and ) forwarded to the parliament 32 thousand signatures in support of ammendments to the country's elections legislation.
According to the Coalition member, women's NGOs urge the authorities to amend legisation so that the country's parliament introduces temporary measures (quotas) to bring the number of women to 50%.
"Over 32 thousand people, living both in Tbilisi and in the regions of Georgia, supported and signed this initiative, and the Coalition forwarded all signatures to the parliament today".
According to the existing regulations, the parliament now is obliged to study and discuss the Women's Coalition's legislative initiative.
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