Feminizing Politics and Power in the UK: Voice, Access and Accountability

女性在政治中的参与和代表在英国政治中仍然是高度热门的话题，就像在全球一样，因为女性很少实现平等的存在，也很少看到女性的问题和观点完全融入政府的决策中。未来几年至关重要，因为英国将面临一系列选举时刻：苏格兰独立公投、2015年大选和2016年的地方选举。这些会议的性质和结果对于使妇女参与选举产生的政治活动，以及对妇女的实质性代表性，即包括妇女的关切和观点，都具有重要意义。研讨会以“声音”、“接触”和“责任”为主题，探讨学术界和实践者对代表性的看法。在英国所有民选机构中，女性的比例仍高于男性，尤其是在斯托蒙特和威斯敏斯特。北爱尔兰议会和下议院的男性比例分别为81%和78%，距离男女平等还有很长的路要走。英国议会目前正陷入对女性不友好的政治文化的辩论中，批评者要求女性在面对性骚扰和工作/生活平衡时“像男人一样”。在苏格兰和威尔士，自1999年以来助理议员和下院议员数量的下降引发了一个问题，即随着时间的推移，女性代表的数量是否一定会增加。女性代表性不足的原因很可能是众所周知的：女性在参与政党政治方面的资源（如时间、金钱和兴趣）较少，而且面对党的守门人，而这些人在很大程度上拒绝接受支持性别配额的全球证据。尽管如此，仍有必要审视英国各政党采取行动的理由，并赋予那些争取平等的人争取政党和议会改革的权力。如果说女性参政是政治权力女性化问题的一部分，那么纳入女性的声音就是另一部分。妇女的问题和观点经常被认为在选举政治中被边缘化或占上风：例如，苏格兰妇女团体目前正在动员起来重新性别独立辩论。在全国范围内，紧缩政策被谴责为对女性不利，至少在女权主义者和左翼批评者看来是这样：联合政府似乎将性别平等视为可接受的附带损害，因为女性受到服务、福利和公共部门就业削减的不成比例的负面影响。在这种背景下，当选代表的“为妇女”主张、对政府妇女政策的评估以及性别（不）平等状况都需要讯问。在英国，女性的代表性到底有多大？各政党将如何争夺2014- 2016年的“女性选票”？在他们的宣言和运动中将如何描述妇女和性别关系？什么是“妇女的利益”？女性之间的差异，例如种族、阶级、性别或地理位置的差异，对她们的经历和机会有什么影响？在公投、2015年和2016年的选举中，是否会出现性别差异？最后，鉴于英国当代女权主义动员较少关注代议制民主，而更多地关注（社交媒体）行动主义，对于代议制理论和实践而言，探索民选代表和非民选代表之间的联系非常重要。到目前为止，这种联系在英国还没有得到系统的研究。但是，只有通过审查妇女的态度与当选和非当选代表的要求和行动之间的一致性，才能更全面地评价妇女实质性代表性的质量。换句话说，如果我们想知道英国的女性在议会政治中是否得到了充分的代表，我们既需要了解女性的大众态度，也需要了解所有声称代表女性利益的代表的关注点和观点。

The participation and representation of women in politics remains highly topical in UK politics, as it does globally, as women rarely achieve parity of presence or see women's issues and perspectives fully integrated into government policy-making. The next few years are critical as the UK faces a series of electoral moments: the Scottish Independence referendum, a General Election in 2015, and devolved elections in 2016. The nature and outcomes of these will be significant for the inclusion of women in elected politics, and for the substantive representation of women, that is, the inclusion of women's concerns and perspectives. The Seminars are organized under the headings of 'Voice', 'Access' and 'Accountability', and explore academic and practitioner views of representation.Women remain out-numbered proportionately in all UK elected institutions, most especially in Stormont and Westminster. At 81 and 78% male the N. Ireland Assembly and the House of Commons, respectively, remain a long way from parity. The UK Parliament is currently mired in debate about women-unfriendly political culture, with critics demanding that women 'man up' in the face of sexual harassment and work/life (in)balance. In Scotland and Wales the decline in the number of AMs and MSPs since 1999 begs questions of the certainty of women's representation increasing over time. It might well be the case that the causes of women's under-representation are known: women have fewer of the resources conducive to party political participation (e.g. time, money and interest), and face party gate-keepers, who for the most part, reject the global evidence that supports sex quotas. Nevertheless, it remains necessary to examine UK political parties' arguments for their (in)action, and to empower those working for parity to campaign for party and parliamentary reform. If women's access to politics is one part of the problem of the feminization of political power, the inclusion of women's voices is another. Women's issues and perspectives are frequently said to be marginalized or trumped in electoral politics: e.g. Scottish women's groups are currently mobilizing to re-gender the independence debate. Nationally, austerity politics has been decried, as bad for women, at least according to feminist and left-wing critics: the Coalition appears to regard gender equality as acceptable collateral damage, as women are disproportionately and negatively affected by cuts to services, benefits and public sector employment. Against this backdrop, elected representative claims 'for women', evaluation of governments' policies for women, and the state of gender (in)equality demand interrogation. Just how well are women in the UK represented substantively? And how will parties compete for the 'women's vote' in 2014-16? How will women and gender relations be depicted in their manifestos and campaigns? What will be constituted as 'women's interests'? What difference do differences between women, for example of race, class, sexuality or geography, make to their experiences and opportunities? Will there be a gender gap in the referendum, and 2015 and 2016 elections? Finally, given a contemporary feminist mobilization in the UK that is focused less on representative democracy and more on (social media) activism, it is important -for representational theory and practice - to explore links between elected and non-elected representatives. Such connections have not been systematically studied in the UK to-date. However, a more comprehensive assessment of the quality of women's substantive representation is possible only by examining the congruence between the attitudes of women and elected and non-elected representatives' claims and actions. In other words, if we want to know whether women in the UK are well represented through parliamentary politics, we need to know both women's mass attitudes and the concerns and perspectives of all representatives who claim to act for women.