N10 - Workshop: Gender-Based Violence in the Political Sphere: Causes, Implications, Solutions, Session 2
Date: Jun 3 | Time: 10:30am to 12:00pm | Location:
Chair/Président/Présidente : Cheryl Collier (University of Windsor)
Discussant/Commentateur/Commentatrice : Mona Lena Krook (Rutgers University)
#MeToo, Citizenship, and Solidarity Across Borders: Candace Johnson (University of Guelph)
Abstract: The catalytic moment for the North American #MeToo movement was Alyssa Milano’s tweet, sent out into the twittersphere on October 15, 2017. Milano asked women who had experienced sexual harassment or abuse to post #MeToo to their status on social media; her call to solidarity resulted in over 85 million responses. This moment was just one in a constellation of other hashtags and revelations that demonstrated the ubiquity of sexual violence. In this paper, I will begin with analysis of one particularly significant moment, the contrasting testimonies of Christine Blasey Ford and (now US Supreme Court Justice) Brett Kavanaugh, in order to consider the ways in which sexual violence can be linked to the fundamental tenets of American citizenship (as articulated by Judith Shklar, 1990), as well as to the ways in which women and men are punished or rewarded for expressing emotion in the political sphere. I will also consider the degree to which the law and legislative changes have been able to respond to charges of sexual violence in the wake of the #MeToo movement. Catherine MacKinnon’s observation that “the #MeToo movement has done what the law could not…”, is suggestive of the limits of legal sanctions for violations that are embedded in socio-cultural, patriarchal norms. Finally, I will consider the political potential for affective solidarity as a remedy to sexual violence, both within societies and across borders.
Political Violence Against Female Politicians in Jamaica: Tracy-Ann Johnson-Myers (The University of the West Indies)
Abstract: In Jamaica, women remain significantly underrepresented at all levels of political decision-making. They occupy approximately 18 per cent of the 63 seats in the House of Representatives (Lower House) and 24 per cent of the seats in the Senate (Upper House). Of the 835 persons elected to Parliament since the country gained Universal Adult Suffrage in 1944, only 67 have been women—a mere 8 per cent. At the local level, there are 228 parish councillors with 44 or 19 per cent being women. On a global scale, Jamaica currently ranks 118 in the world in rankings of women’s political representation.
Women in Jamaica face several barriers that prevent them from running for political office, or staying in politics. Among these barriers are: a lack of a support system to sustain women’s entry and career in politics; the traditional view that women should not hold positions of leadership; women’s immediate domestic responsibilities, among others. One additional barrier to women’s political representation in Jamaica, which has not been adequately studied, is political violence.
While political violence, and violence in general, in Jamaica has received much scholarly attention, there is a dearth of information on the effects of political violence on female politicians or aspirants. Drawing on survey data collected from past and current female politicians, this paper will assess the extent to which political violence and a violent political culture affect women’s electoral and political participation both at the national and local level of politics in Jamaica.
Democratization, Electoral Reform, and Violence against Women in Politics: Juliana Restrepo Sanin (University of Florida)
Abstract: After the transition from authoritarian regimes, Latin American countries have worked to improve the quality of democracy by strengthening political institutions. Gender quotas to make governments more representative have arguably been the most successful of the reforms. However, as women’s numbers have increased, so have reports of harassment and violence to force them to resign, leave the campaign, or act against their will. Using in-depth case study analysis, along with elite interviews with politicians and activists from Bolivia and Mexico; this paper argues that violence against women in politics is an unintended consequence of these efforts to deepen democracy. Violence against women in politics emerges when efforts to deepen democracy focus on one aspect of women’s exclusion, namely the number of women, without addressing other gendered elements of political institutions that shape democratic governance. The paper analyzes how efforts to improve the quality of democracy in Bolivia and Mexico were successful in increasing the number of women in politics but have failed to re-gender political institutions more generally. The paper concludes that measures to improve the quality of democracy and combat violence against women in politics must transform gender relations more broadly by focusing not only on the formal characteristics of political institutions but also on the informal rules and norms that shape those institutions.
Sexual Harassment as Systemic Discrimination: Case Studies of the Canadian Armed Forces and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police: Carol Agocs (Western University)
Abstract: Recent independent enquiries into sexual harassment in the Canadian Armed Forces and the RCMP raise important questions about the prevalence and persistence of this behaviour. In some male dominated organizations in the public sector such as the military, policing, fire services and emergency services sexual harassment may become institutionalized within the organizational culture and structure. Organizational characteristics that may contribute to this kind of systemic discrimination include women’s status as a powerless minority, sex typing of occupational roles, inequality and segregation between women and men doing different kinds of work, a hierarchical structure with few women in higher ranks, and a male dominated culture and pattern of informal and formal social relations. Those who deal with complaints act in the interest of the employer and lack power or authority to expose or address sexual misconduct. Under these conditions individuals victimized by harassment are unlikely to complain or to receive justice.
In organizations such as the Canadian military and the RCMP, disrupting a pattern of systemic sexual harassment requires large-scale changes in structure and culture. While it is important for authorities to act vigorously on individual complaints, a case-by-case approach is far from sufficient. A pattern of sexual harassment and resistance to change is institutionalized as a form of systemic discrimination and needs to be understood and addressed as a social and cultural pattern, not a relationship between individuals.