There are so many reasons why there aren’t more women in politics, but should those reasons be the thing that stops a woman joining any industry these days?
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
From large electorates, society’s expectations of who should stay at home to raise children to the stress and pressure from the community, it seems many women are turning away when it comes to politics. Or at least that’s what we are seeing when it comes to the divide.
In the Dubbo electorate we have just one female candidate ahead of the NSW State election.
In the wider central west there are just two sitting female MPs – Cootamundra's Steph Cooke and Goulburn MP Pru Goward, who has already announced she will not recontest at the next election citing family reasons.
In 2019 it’s hard to hear that still female candidates have questions about ‘how are you going to be able to manage your children’ during the campaign process – not a question that many male candidates would have asked during the same process.
So why do women still have these questions placed upon them? Why is a woman’s personal life, and appearance come to that, looked at so closely when a man’s is not.
Are we not living in 2019 where all is (or at least should) be equal?
It’s not generally the man’s outfits and appearance that are scrutinized so closely – and with social media in this day and age, there is even more scope for people to criticise our politicians.
From how a woman’s hair looks, to what her dress sense appears to be – they were all big discussion points when Julia Gillard was Prime Minister, yet we don’t get the same with our male PMs.
Yes politics is a tough gig – we aren’t saying that it’s not for any person male or female – we can see that with the amount of comment and abuse flying around during the current campaign, especially on social media.
There are many tough gigs out there, and many women who are rising to the challenge of fighting through the sterotypes in those industries.
But our main questions is why should extra pressures be placed on women just because of their gender?
Females make up around 50 per cent of the population – why should it be these things that stop us from having a woman represent us in politics?
SEND US A LETTER:
We welcome your comments which may be published on this website and/or in the newspaper. Please provide all the required information below. Only your name and suburb will be published.
NOTE: Your submission may be edited prior to publication and a correct email and telephone number must be entered for verification purposes.
All fields are required.
