Author

Narges Mohammadi

Saudi Arabia is rebranding itself as a moderate country, but what’s the truth? Just ask the Saudi female activists

by Narges Mohammadi May 2, 2024

Saudi Arabia is rebranding. Since 2016, when it first announced plans to diversify its economy, it has poured billions into making the kingdom appear more progressive to outsiders. Women can now drive and work in jobs they were previously banned from. Vast sums are being invested in futuristic, architectural “gigaprojects”, such as the Line – a sprawling, desert supercity – to attract global tourism.

And yet, inside the kingdom, its citizens tell a very different story. Against a backdrop of image-building projects, thousands of Saudi citizens, according to some reports, could be being blocked by the state from leaving the country with arbitrary and illegal travel bans. Their crime? Advocating for basic human rights.

Among them is my sister, Loujain al-Hathloul. Loujain is a prominent Saudi women’s rights defender who led the campaign against the ban on women driving and tirelessly campaigned for the abolition of the male guardianship system.

Loujain’s brave and outspoken activism was met with repression by the Saudi authorities. In March 2018, she was abducted from the streets of the United Arab Emirates and forcibly brought back to Saudi Arabia. Once on Saudi soil, she was placed under an illegal travel ban and forbidden from leaving the country – only to be arrested arbitrarily a few months later. Her charges explicitly mentioned her human rights work, and my sister was tried under counter-terrorism legislation in the specialized criminal court (SCC), routinely used as a tool to muzzle civil society. Loujain was released from prison in February 2021 under strict conditions, including being barred from leaving the kingdom. Her travel ban was supposed to end, after nearly three years, on 13 November 2023. Yet, in February of this year, well after the expiry of the ban, Loujain was told that she remains under a permanent travel ban with no expiry date. The authorities have never provided any justification, and continue to ignore our inquiries.

This is the case not just for Loujain, but for our entire remaining family in Saudi Arabia, who found out in 2018 that they too were prohibited from travelling, without reference to any judicial ruling – and have been unable to resolve the issue since. These blatant violations of the right to freedom of movement are in direct contradiction of international law as well as Saudi Arabia’s own legal framework.

Living in Saudi Arabia under a travel ban is to live in a constant state of fear, as we know the modus operandi of the authorities. Usually, as was the case with Loujain, the kingdom bans someone from leaving and then, later, they arrest them.

I live in Brussels, and I haven’t seen my family in more than six years. Every day, when I wake up in the morning, I have to check whether my family is still safe. I miss them and wish I could have the opportunity, like everyone else, to go back to Saudi Arabia to see them. But I know I would be trapped there too if I were to go back.

My family’s story is one of many. Maryam al-Otaibi, another courageous women’s rights activist, has also experienced imprisonment and repression. She was placed under an illegal travel ban in 2019. When she denounced her treatment on social media, she was summoned by police and charged for speaking out about her ordeal. She was sentenced to four months in prison and fined 100,000 riyals (£21,300).

This is a systemic issue that will not go away by itself. Despite outward shows that the kingdom is becoming more progressive, the Saudi authorities routinely employ arbitrary travel bans as a tool of repression. As a result, individuals are deterred from engaging in human rights work for their own safety and that of their relatives.

Since such travel bans lack legal basis, there is no way to formally appeal them. Those affected are not notified and only find out about the restrictions when attempting to travel outside the kingdom. They are unable to pursue their personal goals or visit family members abroad.

As Saudi Arabia seeks to rebrand itself on the world stage as an increasingly moderate power, we must not ignore the glaring hypocrisy of the government promoting tourism while denying its own citizens the fundamental right to freedom of movement. The international community must hold Saudi Arabia to account for its egregious human rights violations – and not let sportswashing and celebrity partnerships distract from what life is truly like for the kingdom’s citizens.

It is high time for Saudi Arabia to open itself up not only to tourists but also to the voices of its own people. Until then, the facade of glittering progress will remain just that, masking a harsh reality of repression and injustice.

Lina al-Hathloul is head of monitoring and advocacy at ALQST for Human Rights. She is co-author of the book Loujain Dreams of Sunflowers. Foz al-Otaibi, who also contributed to this article, is a social media influencer and a women’s rights activist who was indicted by the Saudi government for her social media activity and is now living in exile.

Source: Guardian

May 2, 2024 0 comment

Europe Health

A quarter of younger middle class women in the UK have taken up smoking

by Narges Mohammadi May 1, 2024

A study, funded by Cancer Research UK and published in BMC Medicine, found that the proportion of women aged 18-45 from higher socioeconomic backgrounds who smoked rose from 12 per cent to 15 per cent between 2013 and 2023. This was despite the overall smoking rates seeing a decline.

Women of the same age from less advantaged backgrounds, however, were found to have a decrease in smoking rates, from 29 per cent to 22 per cent. Smoking rates among men among all backgrounds remained stable.

There were also substantial increases in the proportion of women of reproductive age who vape, as well as a shift from using manufactured to hand-rolled cigarettes among those who smoke (41 per cent to 61 per cent). The report noted that financial pressures hitting young women harder could be the cause of this, as this population experienced higher rates of job loss during the pandemic and a greater load of housework and childcare.

Considering that tobacco smoking affects women’s fertility and is associated with substantial risks of adverse pregnancy outcomes, the UK study set out to explore socioeconomic trends, use of non-combustible nicotine products and quitting activity among women of reproductive age in England.

While there’s good evidence compiled on the prevalence of smoking in adult populations already, the study notes that less is known about women of reproductive age specifically.

“Understanding patterns of smoking, levels of dependence, and quitting activity in this target group and how they are changing over time can inform the development of interventions and targeting of resources,” the researchers said.

Smoking in Australia

The latest estimates of prevalence of smoking among people in Australia shows the use of electronic cigarettes and vapes has increased markedly in the last 10 years. It nearly tripled between 2019 (2.5 per cent) and 2022-2023 (7 per cent).

While there were fewer people smoking tobacco daily in 2022-2023 than ever before, at just 8.3 per cent, around half of young people aged 18 to 24 (49 per cent) had used e-cigarettes and vapes in their lifetime in 2022-2023, and one in 4 people aged 14 to 17 (28 per cent) had as well.

Use of e-cigarettes is also highest in areas with the most socioeconomic advantage.

There was a significant increase in the age in which younger females first smoked a full cigarette between 2016 (16.0 years) and 2019 (16.6 years), according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.

From 2022-2023, five per cent of females aged 18-24 reported smoking cigarettes daily. That proportion increased to 8.3 per cent when asked if these females were current smokers, in general.

In Australia, tobacco use is the leading cause of cancer, according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. And it’s responsible for more deaths in the country than alcohol and illicit drugs combined.

Source: Women’s Agenda

May 1, 2024 0 comment

Health

Medicare Refusing to Pay for Cancer Scan Sparks Warning for Patients

by Narges Mohammadi April 30, 2024

When it comes to breast cancer screening, women are often told they need an additional scan beyond just a mammogram because these scans can miss tumors in women with dense breast tissue. However, Medicare has routinely refused to cover the lifesaving ultrasound and MRI scans that the doctors order, The New York Times reported last week.

New York City’s Lenox Hill Radiology has already started sending out warnings to patients, telling them they will be forced to pay up to $450 if they do end up getting the extra scans. While Medicare’s official policy covers breast ultrasounds in some situations, it’s limited “to assess palpable or nonpalpable breast masses, ambiguous mammograms and other signs or symptoms suggestive of breast cancer.” That specific rule is vague enough that many women reported being on the hook for the hefty $450 cost despite it being included in their routine checkups. Many of these patients who require additional scans have a family history of breast cancer and have needed extra scans all through adulthood.

Since the Affordable Care Act was passed by former President Barack Obama, more women have had their breast cancer found in early stages rather than when it’s too late. This is because Medicare has offered free mammograms, but extra charges often apply if the doctor thinks another scan is needed. The issue is widespread, as around half of women aged 40 and older who get mammograms have dense breast tissue and may end up needing an additional scan to detect for cancer, according to the National Cancer Institute (NCI). The warning comes as all mammography centers in the United States are going to be required to tell patients if they have dense breasts beginning in September. Those with dense breast tissue who only get mammograms could miss about half of the cancers present, doctors say.

Lawmakers have also gotten on board in support of requiring health insurance plans to cover screening and diagnostic breast imaging, which includes mammograms, ultrasounds and MRIs. Representative Rosa DeLauro, a Connecticut Democrat, and Representative Brian Fitzpatrick, a Pennsylvania Republican, proposed the Find It Early Act to promote this effort.

So far, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) and the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) do not recommend extra breast cancer scans for those with dense breast tissue, but doctors routinely find it necessary when working with patients.

April 30, 2024 0 comment

Europe

EU Parliament adopts first EU-wide rules to combat domestic abuse

by Narges Mohammadi April 28, 2024

The new legislation – which passed with 522 in favour, 27 against and 72 abstentions – prohibits female genital mutilation and forced marriage. It also lays down guidelines for offences committed online, like sharing private information and cyberflashing. Under the new rules, European Union member states must improve their reporting and evidence-collection procedures. They will also need to increase public awareness that non-consensual sex is a criminal offence.

WHY IT’S IMPORTANT

European Commission data reveal that one in three women in the 27-nation bloc has experienced some type of violence, often from intimate partners. Moreover, 600,000 women in Europe have undergone female genital mutilation. Although these offences are considered crimes in most individual member states, and female genital mutilation is illegal in all member states, there are gaps in national laws of some countries and differences in legal frameworks.

“Today, Parliament has taken the first steps to make Europe the first continent in the world to end violence against women. This is a wide-ranging piece of legislation that will prevent violence against women, protect victims and prosecute perpetrators, thereby ensuring a holistic approach to tackling these heinous crimes. There can be no equality without eradication of violence against women. We must ensure that there can be no impunity for those who commit such crimes,” said Frances Fitzgerald, co-rapporteur for the Women’s Rights and Gender Equality Committee.

April 28, 2024 0 comment

North America

College students across US face arrest over Pro-Palestine protests

by Narges Mohammadi April 27, 2024

Standoffs between pro-Palestinian student protesters and universities are growing increasingly tense on both coasts of the US.

In New York, Columbia University’s administration has given hundreds of demonstrators a deadline to clear a large campsite. Meanwhile, dozens of students remained barricaded inside two buildings on a Northern California campus. Both developing incidents are part of intensifying student demonstrations against Israel’s war with Hamas, leading to dozens of arrests on charges of trespassing or disorderly conduct.

Columbia’s president, Minouche Shafik, yesterday set a midnight deadline to reach an agreement with students to clear the camp, saying that if they did not, the university leadership would “consider alternative options.” The deadline passed without news of an agreement. Videos show some protesters taking down their tents, but others doubled down in speeches.

The rise in tensions came the night before US House Speaker Mike Johnson’s trip to Columbia to visit with Jewish students and address the issue of antisemitism on college campuses.

Across the country, protesters at California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt, started using furniture, tents, chains and zip ties to block the building’s entrances. The defiance was less expected in one of California’s more conservative regions, some 480km north of San Francisco. The university says three students have been arrested, and the campus was shut until Wednesday. An unknown number of students occupied a second campus building on Tuesday.

Delicate balance

The upwelling of demonstrations has left universities struggling to balance campus safety with free speech rights. Many institutions have so far tolerated the protests, which have largely demanded that schools condemn Israel’s assault on Gaza and divest from companies that sell weapons to Israel. But some universities are now doling out more heavy-handed discipline, citing safety threats to Jewish students and faculty – some of whom say protesters’ criticism of Israel has veered into antisemitism.

Protests had been bubbling for months but kicked into a higher gear after more than 100 pro-Palestinian demonstrators who had camped out on Columbia’s upper Manhattan campus were arrested Thursday. By late Monday at New York University, police said 133 protesters were taken into custody and all had been released with summonses to appear in court on disorderly conduct charges.

In Connecticut, police arrested 60 protesters – including 47 students – at Yale, after they refused to leave an encampment on a plaza at the centre of campus.

In the Midwest on Tuesday, a demonstration at the centre of the University of Michigan campus had grown to nearly 40 tents, and nine anti-war protesters at the University of Minnesota were arrested after police took down an encampment in front of the library. Hundreds rallied to the Minnesota campus in the afternoon to demand their release.

Campus protests began after Hamas’ deadly attack on southern Israel, when militants killed about 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and took roughly 250 hostages.

In the ensuing war, Israel has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, according to the local health ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between combatants and non-combatants but says at least two-thirds of the dead are children and women.

April 27, 2024 0 comment

Central America Health

New models improve heart disease risk prediction, especially for women

by Narges Mohammadi April 24, 2024

When it comes to matters of the heart, cardiovascular disease in women is underdiagnosed compared to men. A popular scoring system used to estimate how likely a person is to develop a cardiovascular disease within the next 10 years is the Framingham Risk Score. It is based on factors including age, sex, cholesterol levels, and blood pressure.

Researchers in the US and the Netherlands have now used a large dataset to build more accurate cardiovascular risk models than the Framingham Risk Score. They also quantified the underdiagnoses of women compared to men. The results were published in Frontiers in Physiology.

We found that that sex-neutral criteria fail to diagnose women adequately. If sex-specific criteria were used, this underdiagnoses would be less severe. We also found the best exam to improve detection of cardiovascular disease in both men and women is the electrocardiogram (EKG).”

Skyler St. Pierre, Researcher, Living Matter Lab, Stanford University

Underdiagnoses due to heart differences

Anatomically, female and male hearts are different. For example, female hearts are smaller and have thinner walls. Yet, the diagnostic criteria for certain heart diseases are the same for women and men, meaning that women’s hearts must increase disproportionally more than men’s before the same risk criteria are met.

When the researchers quantified the underdiagnoses of women compared to men, they found that the use of sex-neutral criteria leads to severe underdiagnoses of female patients. “Women are underdiagnosed for first degree atrioventricular block (AV) block, a disorder affecting the heartbeat, and dilated cardiomyopathy, a heart muscle disease, twice and 1.4 times more than men, respectively,” St. Pierre said. Underdiagnoses of women was also found for other heart disorders.

Old vs new

They used data from more than 20,000 individuals in the UK Biobank – a biomedical database comprising information from approximately half a million UK individuals aged 40 and older – who had undergone these tests.

“While traditional clinical models are easy to use, we can now use machine learning to comb through thousands of other possible factors to find new, meaningful features that could significantly improve early detection of disease,” explained St. Pierre. Just 10 years ago, these methods were not available, which is why assessment scales like the Framingham Risk Score have been used for half a century.

Using machine learning, the researchers determined that of the tested metrics, EKGs were most effective at improving the detection of cardiovascular disease in both men and women. This, however, does not mean that traditional risk factors are not important tools for risk assessment, the researchers said. “We propose that clinicians first screen people using a simple survey with traditional risk factors, and then do a second stage screening using EKGs for higher risk patients.”

Paving the way for custom medicine

The present study provides a first step into rethinking risk factors for heart disease. Leveraging new technologies is a promising way to improve risk prediction. However, there are some limitations to the study which should be addressed in the future, the researchers said.

One such limitation is the fact that in the UK Biobank sex is treated as a binary variable. Sex, however, is inherently complex, relating to hormones, chromosomes, and physical characteristics, all of which may fall somewhere on a spectrum between ‘typically’ male and ‘typically’ female.

In addition, the study population was middle-aged and older people residing in the UK, so the results may not be transferable to people from other backgrounds and ages. “While sex-specific medicine is one step in the right direction, patient-specific medicine would provide the best outcomes for everyone,” St. Pierre concluded.

Source: News-Medical.net

April 24, 2024 0 comment

Central America Health

Review finds link between active military service and women’s risk of having low birthweight babies

by Narges Mohammadi April 24, 2024

Active military service may heighten a woman’s risk of having a low birthweight baby, suggests a review of the available scientific evidence published online in the journal BMJ Military Health.

The findings highlight the need for more research specifically focused on women in the armed forces, and their reproductive health in particular, conclude the study authors.

More and more countries are deploying women in combat units, and in other challenging environments, such as submarines, note the study authors.

Mounting evidence suggests that stress experienced during pregnancy is associated with birth complications, such as preterm delivery and low birthweight. And a military career and lifestyle expose service personnel to a wide range of physical, mental, and environmental stressors that could potentially influence pregnancy outcomes.

The study authors therefore wanted to explore the potential impact of active military service on the risks of preterm labour and birth, low birthweight, and stillbirth.

They scoured research databases for relevant studies, and included 21 that met all the eligibility criteria in their analysis. The studies, which involved 650,628 women serving in the US military, were all published between 1979 and 2023.

Ten of the studies included a comparison group—usually the wives of active service personnel. By way of a proxy for those that didn’t include a comparator, the study authors drew on national data from the US National Vital Statistics for any given year.

Analysis of the study results indicated no heightened risk of preterm birth among pregnant active service women. But there were significant methodological differences; most studies had a moderate to high risk of bias; and several included only small sample sizes, caution the study authors.

There was no observed association between branch of military service and increased risk of preterm birth, although again this should be interpreted cautiously as 5 studies included mixed service samples and the study design varied considerably, say the study authors.

There was no clear evidence for an increased risk of stillbirth among women on active military service, either.

But nearly two thirds (62.5%) of the studies concluded that women on active service may be at heightened risk of having a low birthweight baby, including one study with the lowest risk of bias. And 4 of the 5 studies that included a comparison group also indicated an increased risk of low birthweight.

Seven of the 8 studies reporting on low birthweight were carried out in single-service settings. Both of those from the US Air Force suggested a higher prevalence of low birthweight babies born to active duty military personnel.

But some 53% and 38% of the studies reporting on preterm birth and low birthweight, respectively, didn’t have a matched comparison group and relied on a proxy drawn from national statistical data.

This introduces a risk of systematic error as the baseline characteristics of the two groups are inherently different, caution the study authors.

Women on active military service will also be medically screened before any tours of duty and will have fewer co existing conditions, while national data will include high risk and multiple pregnancies, they explain.

Only observational studies were included in the review, and the data collection methods and/or adjustment for influential factors varied, acknowledge the study authors. Only 8 studies reported on smoking status despite a high prevalence of smoking in the military and the fact that smoking is associated with several health issues before and during pregnancy.

The data also focused exclusively on the US military, which although unsurprising given that it is one of the largest in the world, this does limit the generalizability of the findings to armed forces personnel elsewhere, highlight the study authors.

Nevertheless, they conclude: This review highlights a need for more female-specific research in armed forces, beyond the US military setting, to inform military maternity pathways and policies in ways that safeguard mothers and their babies while enhancing military readiness.”

Source: News-Medical.net

April 24, 2024 0 comment

Central America Society

Empowering More Female Buyers Is the Solution to the Housing Crisis | Opinion

by Narges Mohammadi April 24, 2024

We see reports that young people are being driven out of Boston due to high rents and lack of ability to buy homes; blue states are shown to have a severe lack of inventory, while states like Texas have seen home prices plummet. Inconsistency reigns supreme. But there is one promising trend—the increase across markets in female buyers, and empowering them, could be the key to stabilizing the market and economy at large.

Until 1974, buying a home as a single woman was almost impossible. While the Equal Credit Opportunity Act and Fair Housing Act helped to level the playing field, women continued to be less inclined to buy a home than their single male counterparts. Much of this had to do with the high wage gap and lack of employment opportunities, younger age of marriage throughout the 1980s and 1990s, and of course the high interest rates and low likelihood of securing a mortgage. In short–women had too many hoops to jump through both financially and societally.

But that’s all changing.

According to an analysis of the 2021 census data by Lending Tree, single women are more likely to own a home than their male counterparts. In fact, the study revealed that women owned 2.71 million more homes than men did.

So why the sudden shift?

Women are finally being empowered economically.

Higher education has seen a dramatic shift in enrollment over the last several years, with men opting to eschew college for trade school or no degree at all. In fact, only 39 percent of men who completed high school opted to attend college in 2021. With the increase in women obtaining degrees, access to employment, advancement, and even roles within the C-suite has also grown, lessening the wage gap and increasing opportunities for financial independence.

Loans have gotten better, and easier to obtain.

There is still work to be done here, but there is significantly better access to loans and mortgages tailored specifically for first-time homebuyers and single people. Furthermore, women are shown time and time again to be more reliable at paying their mortgages and getting out of debt.

They have an eye for investment.

Women, especially those in their 30s and 40s, have lived through crisis after crisis. The recession, the pandemic, life changing events have defined their working careers leading to the overall sentiment that safeguarding your future is paramount.

Increasingly, women have looked to real estate not only as a home, but as an investment that is protected from volatile markets and job shifts.

Societal pressures have changed.

More women are getting married later in life, after building a career and acquiring assets. Additionally, the percentage of women opting not to get married at all has increased, while a recent study showed that the quiet quitting trend had extended to marriages, with women initiating about 70 percent of all divorces. They’re no longer waiting for a man to build the life they want. They’re doing it themselves.

As an institution, we need to continue to empower women if we want to see an overall shift in the market and economy writ large. We need to commit to fair lending practices, lowering the gender bias toward women so that they can gain access to even more loan and mortgage options.

We need to provide financial education and resources to women and girls throughout their education and adult lives, so they know what is possible—and responsible.

And we need to support policies that continue to close the wage gap ensuring equal opportunities. If we don’t, the risks are innumerable, ranging from loss of diversity in the housing market and slowdown in growth, to the reversal of progress made toward gender parity in financial independence and economic stagnation.

If women truly are the future, we must continue to empower them—doing so only serves to help us all.

Source: Newsweek

April 24, 2024 0 comment

Community Europe

Mind the gender gap: Study finds London police least trusted by women

by Narges Mohammadi April 24, 2024

Researchers surveyed more than 8,000 men and women between July 2022 and September 2023 and found that women generally trust police more than men. But among the nine English regions surveyed, compared with men, women’s trust is at its lowest in London.

It comes after a 2023 investigation triggered by outrage at the rape, abduction and murder of Sarah Everard by a serving officer, uncovered hundreds of other incidents of violence against women by serving Metropolitan Police Officers.

“Baroness Louise Casey ran an investigation into the Met, and she issued a scathing report, saying drastic action was needed,” said Brunel University London Honorary Professor, Steven Pickering. “But our research suggests that public trust in the Met is even lower than Baroness Casey found. This is especially pronounced among women and ethnic minorities.”

Trust in the police is crucial for a stable society, but it’s not the same for everyone. Some feel safer than others depending on factors like age, race, income, politics and past brushes with the law. Older people have higher levels of trust in the police, researchers found, while ethnic minority people have significantly lower levels of trust. And people from ethnic minorities living in the North East trust police markedly less than anywhere else in England.

Countrywide, average levels of trust in the police were highest in the East Midlands, South East and South West and lowest in London, the North East and North West. Conservative voters and people living in Tory constituencies also have significantly higher levels of trust than non-Conservatives.

Baroness Casey’s report highlights poor recruitment, vetting and management in the Met, and researchers think they might have had a different result if they’d done the same study a decade earlier.

“Regrettably, events involving women and the Metropolitan Police, especially the murder of Sarah Everard, the overreaction by the police on vigils related to this and numerous other negative events,” they note, are crucial in considering trust in the police.

Women are taking home around £564 less than men each month, warn campaigners who say urgent measures are needed to close the gender pay gap.

While the Met says itself that its vision is “to be the most trusted police service in the world,” in 2023, more than 1,000 Met officers were suspended or on restricted duties for allegations including violence against women and girls, sexual violence and domestic violence, according to figures from the BBC.

“Our findings suggest that the task ahead of the Met police is monumental,” said Prof Pickering, a political scientist. “Some of the factors are national problems, such as the lower trust among people with an ethnic minority background, while other factors are an issue for the Met alone, such as the clear problem for the Met in re-establishing trust among women.”

The study goes on to question whether Met leaders and the Mayor of London accept that the force has a problem with women.

“Overall, our results suggest that there is significant work ahead for police forces generally in England with regards to restoring trust in the police among ethnic minority citizens and in London especially also among women.”

Source: PHYS.ORG

April 24, 2024 0 comment

Australia and Oceania Politics

Exploring why young women in Australia are reluctant to enter politics

by Narges Mohammadi April 23, 2024

A research, now published under the title “Investigating the ambitions of young women to run for national parliament: the case of Australia” in the Australian Journal of Political Science, found that for many young women the appeal of becoming an MP was significantly curtailed by beliefs that the institution maintains stereotypical gender norms as well as a masculine, misogynistic culture. Many women were also more likely to doubt their ability to participate in politics than their male counterparts.

Dr. Zareh Ghazaryan, Head of Politics and International Relations at Monash University, said gender-based inequality of opportunity is diminishing the political ambition of young women.

“Our research shows that young women feel parliament is not a place for them. Social constraints, sexism and toxic parliamentary culture is contributing to entrenched gender disparity,” Dr. Ghazaryan said.

The research used data from the Our Lives longitudinal research study that follows a large cohort of young Queenslanders from adolescence into adulthood. The cohort of 28- to 29-year-olds were interviewed in the weeks prior to the May 2022 election. Of the 47 participants, 27 were female and 20 were male.

The interviews focused on participants’ views on Australian politics as well as their thoughts on women’s representation. The interviews also explored the ambitions of young people to be active in Australian politics.

With misogyny and gender-based violence prominent issues in the lead up to the 2022 election, participants were deeply concerned about how safe the national parliamentary workplace was, particularly for women. Recent allegations of sexual misconduct in parliament was the issue that most concerned women and had a significant impact on their political ambition.

While the research found participants were critical of the status quo, there was a concerning degree of acquiescence about the situation. Participants were reluctant to stand up to, and tackle, the issues from within. Instead, they preferred to avoid such a toxic environment altogether.

“This highlights a deeply unhealthy element in Australian politics whereby individuals, especially women, are choosing not to participate in democratic processes. It is critical that greater efforts be made to advance the political ambitions of women to stand for election to the Australian Parliament,” Dr. Ghazaryan said.

The research concluded that greater efforts be made to advance the political ambitions of women to stand for election to the Australian Parliament.

This may be done through building the confidence and opportunities for women to participate, while changing broader attitudes to the role of women in politics. Recommendations included targeted school-based education programs, as well as advocacy projects that empower young people, particularly women, to engage with, and participate in, politics from an early age.

“Without addressing these entrenched issues, women’s political under representation and an exclusionary masculine culture will continue to mar young people’s political ambitions and the practical operation of Australia’s liberal democracy.”

Provided by Monash University

April 23, 2024 0 comment

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