A British Labor politician was caught in the midst of a sexist commentary on conservative male politicians. According to the researcher, it is above all that British political culture is still very masculine.
Vice-Chairman of the British Labor Party Angela Raynerin Around the weekend, a stir broke out. At the heart of the debate is the claim that Rayner has tried to overthrow the prime minister Boris Johnson attention by crossing his legs and then opening his arms.
Rayner has stated on his Twitter account that he has been the victim of misogyny, or hatred and sexism.
– I am accused of misleading the helpless prime minister – by being a woman with legs and wearing my own clothes, Rayner writes.
Prime Minister Johnson has also publicly deplored the treatment Rayner has received.
The way the British media deal with the uproar has also been criticized.
Rayner’s uproar is neither the first nor certainly the last of the media swirling around a female politician. How is one born of it, and why is it still often the sexualization of a woman that is its building block?
We asked this professor of gender studies and political scientist at the University of Tampere Johanna Kantola.
Kantola outlined at least five essential issues in the debate raised by the uproar and how it compares to Finnish politics and the role of women in it.
1. The role of women in politics is not as strong in Britain as in Finland.
According to Kantola, only 34 per cent of the British parliament has had women representatives since the 2019 election, and that is a record to date. In addition, the proportion of women is unevenly distributed between parties, ie in the Conservative Party, for example, only about a quarter of the representatives are women, while in the Labor Party, for example, more than half are women.
The phenomenon is typical of modern Europe: gender equality is a matter for certain parties, says Kantola. According to him, equality thinking is more visible in liberals, the left and the Greens, and then again there is much more inequality in conservative parties. This particular uproar also shows that sexism and misogyny are problems, especially in the rhetoric of conservative parties.
– Although there have been individual strong women representatives in the parties, the promotion of equality is not visible at the political level, says Kantola.
2. The way the media deals with this cannot always be considered constructive.
According to Kantola, the media perpetuates and repeats misogyny and sexism if it does not address the root causes of the issues but only reports the criticism received by women politicians.
According to Kantola, it would be better to consider, for example, why some politicians even like to talk about other politicians in this way and what problems might be involved.
The media therefore believes that the media is often part of the maintenance of sexism and misogyny. These phenomena easily reproduce gendered, unequal views, meaning that certain politicians and the media act as if in parallel.
3. In Finland, political equality has progressed during Sanna Marini’s government.
In Finnish politics, the situation with regard to equality issues is quite different from that in Britain, ie much further away, says Kantola.
– I would venture to say that Sanna Marini’s government and its women politicians have changed the perception of women in politics, despite the fact that we have had uproar over the clothes that Marin is wearing, for example.
Many of the women politicians in Marin’s government have been on parental leave, for example, and the political debate on this issue, among others, has normalized, according to Kantola.
– Despite this, I don’t think there has been a real moment of politics in Finland either. Like Britain, there are many cases of sexual harassment in Finland’s political history.
4. There is still more talk about appearance and dress among women politicians, including in Finland.
– It is quite clear that issues related to appearance and dress are gendered in the sense that they are talked about more in the context of women politicians.
According to Kantola, Marin is not just wearing a leather jacket or revealing blazer. He has also said in public that he often tries to dress in the same way so that there is not so much talk about dressing and it doesn’t take the attention to the substance of politics.
According to Kantola, this shows that many women politicians have to think about these issues and the gendered structure within politics. Kantola thinks that women politicians are aware that special attention is paid to their appearance.
5. It is important to identify and talk about problems.
According to Kantola, making things visible is a precondition for them to be changed and addressed.
– I think this Rayner case is worth analyzing. It’s worth talking about in public because it has so many traits of sexism and hostile rhetoric.