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Why Are Women Under-Represented in the British House of Commons and the Sejm of the Republic of Poland?

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Why Are Women Under-Represented in the British House of Commons and the Sejm of the Republic of Poland? WHY ARE WOMEN UNDER-REPRESENTED IN THE BRITISH HOUSE OF COMMONS AND THE SEJM OF THE REPUBLIC OF POLAND? Thesis submitted in accordance with the requirements of the University of Liverpool for the degree of Doctor in Philosophy by Dorota Urszula Opyd 03 August 2015 ABSTRACT This study explores the reasons for gender inequality in the lower chambers of the British and Polish Parliaments. The barriers to women’s political advance are investigated through elite interviews with women MPs with the aim of identifying and exploring the socio-cultural, socio-economic and structural factors which account for gender imbalance in national parliaments. The research examines these factors from the perspectives of those most involved: the women MPs. Through qualitative, semi-structured interviews, I examine the similarities and differences in the views of women politicians from countries with different electoral systems, contrasting models of equality guarantees and different historical and democratic cultures. The findings from the study illustrate the impact of cultural stereotypes on women who seek to join the political arena, the influence that media bias in the representation of women’s political activity has on female politicians and the extent of the restrictions associated with a male dominated environment. This research also addresses structural difficulties such as electoral systems and different types of equality provisions introduced in each country to help women parliamentary candidates. In addition, this study provides some indication of the way forward for the achievement of gender parity. The results provide clear support for the argument that gender balance cannot be achieved without challenging stereotypes and, most of all, without introducing i measures to educate young girls on political careers. Within the same context, the biases of the media in promoting gender stereotypes and the untouchable power of social media have been identified. The findings also suggest a need to re-think the use of gender quotas, supporting these as a short-term solution but resisting the involvement of governments in gender equality issues, indicating that this should be dealt with by the political parties. The thesis also offers insights into the importance of behavioural patterns that men and women in power have learned though their socialisation, an issue largely missed in the existing literature. ii DECLARATION I declare that the dissertation describes original work that has not previously been presented for the award of any other degree of any institution. Where other sources of information have been used, they have been acknowledged. Signed, Dorota Opyd Dorota Urszula Opyd iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ‘You can’t imagine, even from you have read and what I’ve told you, the things I shall have to see and do. It’s friendship work, Carter, and I doubt if any man without ironclad sensibilities could ever see it through and came up alive and sane’ (Rugg, and Petre, 2004: 1). Firstly, and foremost, I would like to thank my supervisors Dr Stuart Wilks-Heeg, Professor Karen Ross and Professor Ken Roberts, whose continual supportive enthusiasm for this thesis never failed to compensate for my own lack of confidence. Their knowledgeable and critical guidance was absolutely crucial to the completion of this project. Secondly, I would truly like to express my gratefulness to my mentor and friend, Professor Ken Roberts, for constant encouragement and for being kind enough to spend many hours reading drafts and guiding me on their improvement. Professor Roberts, your support was invaluable in starting, continuing and completing my PhD journey, thank you. Thirdly, I would like to thank my father Tadeusz Opyd for endless technical help around my home and for being able to be available at any time I needed him, despite living 2000 km away. You are a star, dad. I would also like to thank my friends Philip Pastouna, Sarah Rowland, Katie Homer and Wanda Lukanko for their advocacy during my research. Phil’s confidence in my ability and his support helped me to start the enjoyable academic voyage and made me believe that I was capable of reaching the end. Thank you Sarah and Katie for all help with my horses and patience, when I relentlessly talked about my research and thank you Wanda for being a ‘second mother’ to me after losing my mum. At last, I would like to thank my dearest friend Michal Chodak, for his understanding when I was spending endless time in front of my computer during the writing up of my thesis. Thank you Michal for taking care of me, my health and spoiling me with delicious cooking. I dedicate this thesis to my mum who is not here today to celebrate my achievements but I believe she is watching over me. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract i Declaration iii Acknowledgment iv Table of Content v List of Figures vii List of Tables viii List of Pictures ix Abbreviations x Appendices xi Chapter I: Introduction 1 Chapter II: Review of Relevant Literature 11 Introduction 11 Difficulties that challenge women politician’s in their journey to the Parliament: Global overview 19 Measures taken to help women to join the political elite 46 Impact of electoral systems on gender imbalance in politics 65 Statistical emphasis on the United Kingdom and the Republic of Poland 74 Conclusion 79 Chapter III: Research design 86 Introduction 86 Background to the research: Why the House of Commons and the Sejm of the Republic of Poland? 89 Some concerns regarding cross international research 91 Interviews: qualitative approach to primary data collection 94 Ethical considerations during different stages of the research 100 Reflection on data analysis 103 Limitations of the methodology chosen for this research 104 Interviewing the elites: my pleading journey 107 Conclusion 115 Chapter IV: Data analysis and findings emerging from interviews with British women MPs 117 Introduction 117 Gender similarities and differences 119 Family 127 Distortions 136 Structural pros and cons 146 v Ways to gender equality 158 Conclusion 163 Chapter V: Data analysis and findings emerging from interviews with Polish women MPs 166 Introduction 166 Gender similarities and differences 168 Family 174 Distortions 181 Structural pros and cons 192 Ways to gender equality 199 Conclusion 206 Chapter VI: Similarities and differences: British and Polish women MPs 209 Introduction 209 Similarities emerging from British and Polish women MPs’ 211 Up-and-coming differences between British and Polish women MPs’ 217 Conclusion 230 Chapter VII: Final conclusions and practical recommendations for further 238 research Empirical findings 241 The cross-national comparison of the empirical findings 252 Theoretical implications 254 Limitations of the study 258 Recommendations for future research 259 References 262 Appendices 288 vi List of Figures Figure 1: Average percentage of women in Parliaments Worldwide in 2015 20 Figure 2: Percentage of parliamentary seats in single or lower chambers 21 occupied by women in 2015 (member states of OECD) Figure 3: The ladder of political recruitment 72 Figure 4: Representation of men and women in the House of Commons and 74 the Sejm of the Republic of Poland in 2015 Figure 5: Progress in gender balance in the House of Commons: 1950-2015 75 Figure 6: Progress in gender balance in the Sejm of the Republic of Poland: 76 1952-2011 Figure 7: The increase of women in parliaments: UK, Poland and 77 Worldwide between 2010 and 2015 Figure 8: The increase of women on boards: FTSE 250 and FTSE 100 78 between 2010/2011 and 2015 Figure 9: Differences in percentages between men and women, and their 297 interest in British politics Figure 10: Differences in percentages between men and women, and their 297 interest in Polish politics. vii List of Tables Table 1: Equality promotion strategies 54 Table 2: Worldwide quotas by region 60 Table 3: Percentage of countries with gender quotas by type of electoral 61 rules Table 4: Categories: UK 292 Table 5: Categories: Poland 293 Table 6: Gender similarities/differences 294 Table 7: Family 294 Table 8: Distortions 295 Table 9: Structural pros and cons 295 Table 10: Ways to gender equality 296 Table 11: Information about the British interviewees 298 Table 12: Information about the Polish interviewees 299 viii List of Pictures Picture 1: ‘Blair’s Babes’ 288 Picture 2: Success of women during 2015 UK’s General Election 289 Picture 3: Creation of sub-categories and categories 290 Picture 4: Creation of master categories: UK 291 Picture 5: Creation of master categories: PL 291 ix Abbreviations BPFA: Platform for Action CEDAW: Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women EIGE: European Institute for Gender Equality FPTP: First-Past-The-Post LEQ: Legislative Electoral Quotas MMP: Mixed Members Proportional OECD: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development PCI: Partito Comunista Italiano (Italian Communist Party) PFA: UN Beijing Platform For Action PGK: Parlamentarna Grupa Kobiet (Parliamentary Women’s Union) PR: Proportional Representation PSOE: Partido Socialista Obrero Español (Spanish Socialist Workers Party) RV: Reserve seats SMD: Single Member District STV: Single Transferable Vote VPQ: Voluntary Party Quotas x Appendices Appendix 1 288 Picture 1 288 Picture 2 289 Picture 3 290 Picture 4 291 Picture 5 291 Appendix 2 292 Table 4 292 Table 5 293 Appendix 3 294 Table 6 294 Table 7 294 Table 8 295 Table 9 295 Table 10 296 Appendix 4 297 Figure 9 297 Figure 10 297 Appendix 5 298 Table 11 298 Table 12 299 xi CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, together women ought to be able to turn it right side up again (Sojourner Truth 1797-1883 in Genius, 2015: np) In the past fifty years, more interest in political gender equality has been shown globally and some progress in this domain has been made.
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