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Women and political participation A minor field study of the political culture in Colombia

Stjernquist, Annika LU (2011) STVK01 20112
Department of Political Science
Abstract (Swedish)
Since the elections of 2010 there are 14 per cent women in the Colombian
congress - a remarkably low number in comparison with several other countries in
Latin America where quotas of allocation are common. Decades of armed conflict
might give a hint of why gender progress has been slow in Colombia, but at the
same time as stereotyped gender roles are highly dominating, women are in no
sense passive actors in the public sphere. More women than men graduate from
higher education and women take an active role in social movements. It is said
that the political arena is the most macho culture of all in Colombia and that the
political parties actively work against women’s participation in conventional
politics.
Interviews with... (More)
Since the elections of 2010 there are 14 per cent women in the Colombian
congress - a remarkably low number in comparison with several other countries in
Latin America where quotas of allocation are common. Decades of armed conflict
might give a hint of why gender progress has been slow in Colombia, but at the
same time as stereotyped gender roles are highly dominating, women are in no
sense passive actors in the public sphere. More women than men graduate from
higher education and women take an active role in social movements. It is said
that the political arena is the most macho culture of all in Colombia and that the
political parties actively work against women’s participation in conventional
politics.
Interviews with congressmen/women and gender experts show that
stigmatisation is great, women face tougher requirements, are expected to take a
higher moral ground and that the work is difficult to combine with the
responsibility of taking care of a home. Theories of democracy and political
culture are used to analyse the interviews, as well as a presumed dichotomy
between public and private sphere. This study in many ways present a miserable
outlook for women in formal politics, but it also shows that the alternative path
that many women choose – social movements – might also be a way of avoiding
getting corrupted or needing links to the drug-trade or paramilitaries. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Stjernquist, Annika LU
supervisor
organization
course
STVK01 20112
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
keywords
women, political participation, public/private, political culture, Colombia, congress
language
English
id
2199097
date added to LUP
2011-12-07 09:34:40
date last changed
2011-12-07 09:34:40
@misc{2199097,
  abstract     = {{Since the elections of 2010 there are 14 per cent women in the Colombian
congress - a remarkably low number in comparison with several other countries in
Latin America where quotas of allocation are common. Decades of armed conflict
might give a hint of why gender progress has been slow in Colombia, but at the
same time as stereotyped gender roles are highly dominating, women are in no
sense passive actors in the public sphere. More women than men graduate from
higher education and women take an active role in social movements. It is said
that the political arena is the most macho culture of all in Colombia and that the
political parties actively work against women’s participation in conventional
politics.
Interviews with congressmen/women and gender experts show that
stigmatisation is great, women face tougher requirements, are expected to take a
higher moral ground and that the work is difficult to combine with the
responsibility of taking care of a home. Theories of democracy and political
culture are used to analyse the interviews, as well as a presumed dichotomy
between public and private sphere. This study in many ways present a miserable
outlook for women in formal politics, but it also shows that the alternative path
that many women choose – social movements – might also be a way of avoiding
getting corrupted or needing links to the drug-trade or paramilitaries.}},
  author       = {{Stjernquist, Annika}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Women and political participation A minor field study of the political culture in Colombia}},
  year         = {{2011}},
}