PANEL DISCUSSION

What should women expect from political leaders to restore the trust in our governance systems?

11 October  2007

Women have the power and the credibility to reverse the steep decline in trust in politics, and the ability to bridge a widening gulf between civil society and government, participants at the debate on confidence in governance systems were told. Corruption, which has eroded political institutions around the world could be drastically reduced if more women were able to climb higher up the political ladder, in industrialised countries as well as developing nations.

While the speakers, three former government ministers and a senior White House advisor, stopped short of blaming political corruption solely on men, they agreed that giving women more access to political power could ease the problem.

French member of parliament and former Justice Minister Elisabeth Guigou told the meeting: “To restore trust, politicians must act on people’s daily issues and concerns like unemployment, housing and security, as well as on global issues, and women tend to do that spontaneously.

“The more we have politicians who represent the diversity of society the better, and the fact is that half of society is women. But we should be careful not to say that just because we’re women, we’re better. I personally don’t like victimised feminists who say when you criticise them: ‘It’s just because I’m a woman’.”

Shirin Tahir-Kheli, senior advisor to the US Secretary of State for Women’s Empowerment, told participants that America had seen an ‘’impressive rise’’ in women’s participation in US politics at local and national level, but Americans still had little faith in their institutions.

But she added: “Remember that it’s not just the US where this is happening.  Decline in trust is a global phenomenon.  And one reason people make the case for the greater involvement of women in politics is because of the corruption that has gnawed away at our institutions, and the fact that historically women have not been the leaders who have been the most corrupt ones. 

“In fact, they have usually been more focused on governing and the need for dialogue and networking.”

Former Spanish Health Minister Maria Angeles Amador said that at 30 per cent, Spain had one of the highest representations of women of any European parliament, but she stressed that her nation still had a long way to go restore full confidence in the political system.

She said: ‘We are proud of our situation in Spain.  Parliament already has one of Europe’s highest proportions of women. Prime Minister Jose-Luis Zapatero has a commitment to equality in politics, and this filters down to public and private employment.

“But sadly, although we are making progress in this direction, confidence in politics is still as bad in Spain as it is in France and Italy, and the distance between civil society and government concerns people. But women can bridge that divide.”

“Women are different from men, and we have our own way of looking at the world, but it doesn’t mean we’re better, genetically or in any other way,” she added.

Moderator and French television journalist Christine Ockrent complimented Amador on Spain’s “amazing transformation” from dictatorship 40 years ago to thriving democracy. She said: “It is a remarkable turnaround that makes you a model country in Europe, and what is more surprising is that contrary to the idea of Latin countries excluding men, there are almost as many female as male ministers in Spain.”

But Italy’s Minister for Regional Affairs and Local Communities, Linda Lanzillotta , said lack of trust in politicians in her country had plunged their government into a ‘’deep crisis’’: She said: “The feelings of our citizens for national government are very negative at the moment.  Since 1993 we have been in a period of transition. We are looking for stability and this makes it difficult for government to keep its promises.”

“Changes need to be made to help women in the labour market, and with issues like health and flexible working hours, and you can’t do that without stable institutions,” she added. “Our political parties are led by narrow groups of men, denying women access to the higher levels of politics, but the launch of a new centre-left democratic party which has pledged to elect 50 per cent women will represent a new start for women.”

“But there is a conflict between resolving global and local issues and a deepening crisis of trust around the world, and I believe that it is women, who are more generous, and more credible and have the ability to create new frameworks, who can bridge this gap,” she concluded.