4 | - Número: 010 | 30 de Novembro de 2012

2. Different stages of evolution

Women have gone through different stages in their evolution towards leadership. Until the ‘80s, they often bumped against a concrete wall: gender roles were rigid: women were homemakers and men breadwinners; women were discouraged from entering studies or careers which were considered for men (be it plumbing, science, engineering, economics or politics). Those who insisted were channelled towards posts which were well below their qualifications.
In the ‘80s and ‘90s, the concrete wall started to crumble but women found that behind it there was a glass ceiling: many imperceptible impediments excluded them from power. Women represented a risky investment for top managerial or political jobs: they might be too emotional or too principled; it was not easy to spot them: they did not have the right connections; sooner or later they would give priority to their family – be it to care for the children or their old parents; they may be good but their style was not at all what was expected from a leader.
In the new millennium, women have crossed into a new stage: they are stuck in a labyrinth: they have made it to the top but are often segregated in areas such as human resources, communication, women’s rights, social affairs, health; they continue to struggle to reconcile family and professional life; after fighting for a promotion, they continue to fight to prove that they deserved it, as the suspicion that they got it just because they were women is always there.

3. Evolution not revolution

The passage from a concrete wall, a glass ceiling to a labyrinth has taken place through an evolution, not a revolution. And this evolution has not happened naturally. It has been induced, promoted, accompanied and forced through the introduction of:
an anti-discrimination legal framework, gender equality policies, family planning and anti-contraception, services to care for babies, children, the elderly and the sick.

4. The current situation

Currently, in Europe, women and men do not enjoy equal representation in politics. Looking at figures provided by the Inter-parliamentary Union,1 at the end of 2011, women represented:
more than 40 percent of members of parliament in only four Council of Europe member states (Andorra, Sweden, Finland and the Netherlands); between 30 and 40 percent in eight member states (Iceland, Norway, Denmark, Belgium, Spain, Germany, Slovenia and “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”); between 20 and 30 per cent in fourteen member states (Portugal, Switzerland, Austria, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, Croatia, Poland, Latvia, United Kingdom, Czech Republic, Serbia, Italy, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Bulgaria); while they were less than 20 percent in the remaining twenty-one Council of Europe member states.

5. The monolith

It seems to me that to speed up evolution, like in ‘2001: a space odyssey’, a monolith must be found, something that will help mankind take a major leap forward towards gender equality in leadership positions, also in politics. 1 IPU, Women in national parliaments, World classification, situation as of 31 December 2011.

Consultar Diário Original