The Feminism Progression - Essay Example

Investigating how feminism has progressed in the 21st Century in relation to voting intentions and democratic participation Tutor: Date: INTRODUCTION According to Anderson (2015), the term feminism is arguably one of the most imperative concepts that have extensively been utilised in the 21st century for the purpose of advocating for the rights of women in reference to political, social, and economic aspect in order to be at the same equality level with men. It is worth noting that, the concept feminism has got numerous factors that influence it since there has been much advocacy by women, and a section of men in trying to equate these two genders. One of the many issues been advocated for is voting intentions and democratic participation. Gelb & Palley (2009) argue that voting intentions and democratic participation has traditionally been affiliated to men as compared to women in the past few decades. Nevertheless, in the 21st Century, women have started participating in politics more fluently and insisting that their opinions be taken into consideration through voting and/ or any other democratic process. Thus, this research is aimed at establishing reasons as to why women in the 21st Century have voting intentions and democratic participation. Research Question This research is aimed at establishing why women in different parts of the world are currently engaging in voting and other democratic participations. Research carried out in the recent past has showed that women are moving towards the left of men in regard to the advancement from the past centuries to the current 21st century. Research Objectives General Objective To investigate and determine how feminism has progressed in the 21st Century in relation to voting intentions and democratic participation Specific Objective Investigate and analyse factors affecting women in their decision making in voting intentions and democratic participation To determine why women participate more in politics in the 21st century as compared to past centuries To establish why voting and democratic participation is vital to women in 21st century To understand why feminism is more vibrant at present LITERATURE REVIEW The impact of this research is to understand the importance of feminism in the 21str century in relation to voting intentions and democratic participation. It is worth noting women constitute the largest percentage of people in the world and as such their participation in politics is necessary and influential as well. Additionally, it is expected that the participation of women in politics especially in voting and democratic participation is highly likely to turn a new leaf in the world of politics. Importantly, there has been prior research pertaining to this study. According to Inglehart & Norris (2003), it is argued that the developmental theory pertaining to gender gap suggests that the long-term structural and cultural changes have greatly affected the life of both men and women in reference to realignment in gender politics especially in the 21st century. Moreover, it was established that once women became more participatory in voting and democratic processes then their votes would automatically make a mark in the world of politics. It was also argued that women were more pertinent in most political issues as opposed to men such as supporting parties that were conservative and centered right. In fact, the Civil Culture of 1963 articulates that women are currently known to differ from men in reference to their political behaviour particularly because women tend to be more apathetic and conservative compared to men. Smythe (2009) argues that during the past decade, there emerged speculations that women were continuous realigning towards the left due to the changes in the society, and the political field as well. This situation was termed as a modern gender gap. Moreover, there was both full realignment and partisan realignment, which argued that although women had a tendency to lean on particular political parties; most of their voting and democratic participation was felt more when it came to presidential, gubernatorial and state level contests. Consequently, the development theory articulates that traditional societies have for the past decades been characterised by different gender roles, which mostly pointed at discouraging women from participating in other aspects apart from social aspects such as taking care of the family, and child bearing and rearing as well. Nevertheless, in the 21st century where we have the post industrial societies, gender roles have adversely changed as a result of structural revolution, the current labour force, opportunities in the education sector especially for women and the new trends that are associated with modern families (Grown, 2006). As a result of these changes in both male and female roles, their behaviour in politics is influenced. According to Youngs (2004) women are argued to participate more in voting and democratic processes when they have previous participated in paid occupation. This is because women who are employed tend to feel more independent in voting intentions and democratic participation. For instance, the push for for voting and participating in democratic processes might be encouraged by pervasive patterns that are related to horizontal and vertical occupational segregation. Besides, women especially in the United Kingdom have greatly moved from the era of low paid occupations to well paying occupation to an extent of holding political offices and political posts as well. Similarly, women have in the 21st century been perceived to be more affiliated to political parties compared to the yesteryears when they were religiously attached to different denominations. In a study conducted by Bird (2003), it was established that structural factors were regard as more interacting and causing changes in attitudes and values that are known to directly affect the voting choice in women. For instance, the most influential theories revolve around the effects of feminist mobilization and attitudes related to political roles of the government. However, there have emerged some voting differences between the young women and the older women who have different voting intentions since they belong to different generations, and their political perception varies as well. Of most importance is that the voting intentions and democratic participations have more impact on the politics of a given countries because they also tend to touch on the voice of children and the society as a whole. According to Bulbeck (2010), feminism in relation to voting intentions and democratic participation has rapidly grown especially in the developed countries such as the United Kingdom and the United States. Basically, the concept of feminism the 21st century has made it easier for women to make independent decisions on voting without having to be influence by their counterparts. Nevertheless, some forces of modernisation have not yet accepted the transformation of the traditional gender roles, which view women as non –participants in voting and democratic participation to a modern society of women who are participant in voting and democratic participation. METHODOLOGY Cozby and Bates (2012) articulate that there are numerous methods that have continuously been utilized by researchers across the world with reference to the issue under investigation. As such, the research design will be a cross-sectional survey that will be used to collect data from a sample of participants. Through sampling, there will be a representation of women who have taken part in voting intentions and democratic participation. Additionally, the study will incorporate interviews, and case studies. The impact of this research design is that it could be used to source information from the target population that is later used in culminating the results. Moreover, facts and figures are also taken into consideration (Halperin & Heath, 2012). Sampling method and size In the research, sampling will take place where a sample of the entire population will be used In particular, stratified sampling will take place in order to pick out women who have participated in voting and democratic process. Additionally, the researcher will incorporate a sample of 40 women who have participated in voting and democratic processes and 20 women who have never involved themselves in any voting intentions and democratic participation. Both sample groups will use stratified sampling for clarity. Data Collection Tools In order to understand why women in the 21st century have voting intentions and democratic participation, it is imperative for researcher to come up with first hand information from the selected participants in the following ways. Interviews This tool will be incorporated during the data collection from women who have made a decision of participating in voting intentions and democratic processes. Essentially, the tool is important in asking questions with the expectations of receiving responses pertaining to the selected sample in order to draw conclusions from the research under investigation. Similarly, the tool is expected to have both structured and semi structured questions. It is worth noting that both structured and semi structured questions makes it easier and possible to gather the correct information since the tool does not leave any unverified details. Case Studies This tool is used to analyse issues in form of challenges or problems in the real world. As such, the researcher will be expected to carry out some research on the current research particularly on at least three past election and their trends in reference to the research at hand. The importance of this tool is that it puts more emphasis on the result to expect through giving real world analysis. It is worth noting that case studies demonstrate that the current research is factual and practical. Additionally, case studies can be used with a range of different measurement techniques and could be gathered for a substantial period of time. Validity and Reliability Proper research must be guided by both validity and reliability. In light of this, tools used in the research must be reliable. Any reliability is measured through testing and retesting by the researcher. Nonetheless, validity and reliability can only be achievable through piloting. Thus, seeking assistance from the supervisor could be termed as an excellent idea especially in measuring the tools that will be used during the research. Data Analysis In order to have a final conclusion on the research at hand, the researcher will be expected to edit information that has already been gathered, further code similar themes, and finally put the data into classifications that are easy to interpret. The impact of this process is to ensure that any detection of errors and omissions are corrected in advance. Furthermore, there is the reduction of data into homogenous categories that are expected to come up with meaningful relationships (Halperin & Heath, 2012). In this case, there will also be utilisation of descriptive and inferential analysis so as to measure and ascertain the relationship that potentially exists in the information gathered. Hence, SPSS package will be uses to analyse the correlation between variables. Reference list Top of Form Top of Form Top of Form Top of Form Bottom of Form Top of Form Top of Form Top of Form Anderson, K. J. (2015). Modern misogyny: Anti-feminism in a post-feminist era. New York, NY : Oxford University Press. Bird, K. (2003). The political representation of women and ethnic minorities in Established Democracies:A framework of Comparative research. McMaster Univerisity. London. Bulbeck, C. (2010). Unpopularising Feminism: ‘Blaming Feminism’ in the Generation Debate and the Mother Wars. Sociology Compass, 4, 1, 21-37. Cozby, P. and Bates, S., 2012. Methods in behavioral research (11thed). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.Top of Form Gelb, J., & Palley, M. L. (2009). Women and politics around the world: A comparative history and survey. Santa Barbara, Calif: ABC-CLIO. Grown, C. (2006). Taking action: Achieving gender equality and empowering women. London: Earthscan. Halperin, S., & Heath, O. (2012). Political research: Methods and practical skills. Oxford: Oxford university press. Inglehart, R., & Norris, P. (2003). Rising tide: Gender equality and cultural change around the world. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Smythe, D. ( 2009). A few laced genes: womens standpoint in the feminist ancestry of Dorothy E. Smith. History of the Human Sciences, 22, 2, 22-57. Youngs, G. (2004). Feminist international relations: A contradiction in terms? or : why women and gender are essential to understanding the world we live in. International Affairs (royal Institute of International Affairs (united Kingdom), 801, 2004, 75-87. Bottom of Form Bottom of Form Bottom of Form Bottom of Form Bottom of Form Bottom of Form Bottom of Form Read More