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We really want them, they are just not there
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“Politics of Identity” Bachelor’s thesis
Words: 8716 (excluding bibliography) Date: 20-06-2019
First reader: dr. Mike Medeiros Second reader: dr. Jana Krause
Marlotte Brundel 11252707
In this Bachelor thesis, the reasons why the Netherlands has never had a female prime minister, are discussed. This is done in a qualitative, cross-sectional, comparative case study to Germany. Theories
about gender, female representation, and leadership will be discussed to formulate an answer to the research question. On the basis of interviews, a comparative analysis is made. The conclusion of this
research holds multiple answers. The lack of a female Dutch prime minister can be traced back to traditional structure, stereotyping and institutionalization.
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Table of contents
Subject Page number
Introduction………3
Theoretical framework………...5
Gender………...5
Representation………...6
Leadership……….7
Methods and cases………..11
Methods……….11 Cases………..12 Results………14 Gender………...14 Representation………...15 Leadership……….17 Comparison………...18 Conclusion……….20 Discussion………..21 Appendix………22
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Introduction
It is 2019. One hundred years ago, Dutch women received the active right to vote (Atria 2019). Two years before that happened, women could make themselves eligible for elections. You would think that one hundred years later, the seats in the Dutch parliament would be divided proportionally. It is not. The female seats in the Dutch Tweede Kamer are at 31,3% in 2019, but the Dutch parliament has never been led by a female prime minister (Inter-Parliamentary Union 2019). The neighboring country, Germany, has fewer women – 30,9% – in der Bundestag but has, in fact, had a female chancellor for fourteen years now (Hughes & Paxton 2008: 10, Inter-Parliamentary Union 2019). This difference between two alike countries is remarkable and therefore needs to be examined.
The lack of a female Dutch prime minister is relevant to research for many reasons. It is relevant in a way that there needs to be found an answer to the question of why there has never been a female Dutch prime minister, ever. This answer needs to be found to be able to clear the way for women in politics with the aspiration of becoming prime minister. Research has found out that little girls and young women tend to be more interested in politics whenever they are exposed more often to women in the news, in other words, to role models (Mügge 2013: 167, Hunt, Gonsalkorale & Zadro 2014: 723). Besides that, the answer needs to be found because it is problematic for a proportional representative democracy as the Netherlands, to not actually be representative. Women still lack female political role models, which makes for less participation in politics and an uneven part in politics, whilst being fifty percent of the Dutch population (Wouters 2019). This subject is academically relevant to research since the answer still remains unclear what exactly causes this disproportionality in politics (Kenworthy & Malami 1999: 236). Besides, the literature surrounding feminine leadership focuses on the role women play in effecting leadership capacities and often reproduce gendered dualism in leadership literature (Pullen & Vacchani 2018: 127).
In this thesis an answer is being sought to the following research question: why has the Netherlands never had a female prime minister? The answer to this is to be found throughout a comparative case study with Germany. To be able to answer the research question in this thesis, a theoretical framework is established. This theoretical framework consists of theories surrounding gender, stereotypes, female representation, institutionalism, leadership and common patterns for women at work. It is needed to discuss this kind of theory to be able to fully understand and correctly interpret the answers of the interviewees. After the theory is explained, the methods and cases will be discussed. The reason for choosing a qualitative research design, what this design contains and how the research was conducted is explained in that section. Besides that, the Dutch and German cases will be deepened. Following the methods and cases section, the results of this Bachelor thesis research will be discussed. Here it becomes more clear why the Netherlands has never had a female prime-minister
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before and why Germany has had one for fourteen years now. At the end follows a conclusion from the thesis and a discussion in which ideas for further research will be elaborated.
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Theoretical framework
Gender, femininity, and stereotypes
Femininity is not easily defined since it holds different conceptualizations to it. One of those conceptualizations is that womanhood and femininity are seen as the second sex (de Beauvoir 1949/2011: 13). Masculinity is the neutral norm in society to designate humans in general and by doing so, femininity becomes the ‘other’ sex. The woman, therefore, is the exception on the rule, for example in bodily types; with having ovaries and a uterus, the woman is seen as irregular to the male body. As de Beauvoir describes, the woman is seen as relative to the man and therefore not seen as autonomous (ibid.). Just as in the duality between good and bad or day and night, the division is made between man and woman (idem: 14). Noteworthy is that women are often seen as a minority with them being the ‘other', but in reality, they are not. Because of them being seen as the minority, they get the treatment following from that label. According to de Beauvoir, the reason for women often not fighting that misplaced treatment is because of the lack of shared history in contrast to other ‘minority' groups (idem: 15). Women have lived different lives everywhere; some in peripheral states, some in white supremacy states of mind, some in religious states of mind and so on. Following this line of thought, there is too much difference between femininity that there would not be any place for a common shared female history. Without this history, it is hard to fight the thought that society compels upon women about being the ‘other’, dependent on men and an object to possess or to rule over (idem: 17). This makes it hard to create a social identity for womenkind worldwide, while at the same time stereotypes exist what makes for a shared social identity (Brewer 2001: 116).
Important to note is that in this thesis, femininity and masculinity are seen as a product of society, a social construct. Gender in that way is seen as the encompassing division between men and women, male and female and the content of those categories (Jackson 2006: 106). This hangs together with the given identities and stereotypes that come along with assigning gender to people. Gender, therefore, is a product of society and culture, by giving meaning to everyday actions of both women and men (ibid.). The stereotypes that come along with being masculine or feminine are the following. Masculine qualities are qualities such as aggression, ambition, competitiveness, effectiveness, independence, leadership, power, individualism, convincing and success (Wouters 2018: 52, Stamnes 2012: 180). Feminine qualities, on the other hand, contain qualities like being loving, caretaking, understanding, happy, compassionate, soft, weak, shy, careful, listening, asking and focused on teamwork (ibid.). Hereby a social hierarchy originates and becomes powerful because it seems ‘natural'. By carrying out these qualities, we find ourselves ‘doing gender’. Both men and women perform their gender roles throughout behaving according to what is normal for their gender (West & Zimmerman 1987: 126-217). But gender is often an idealization of what femininity and masculinity should look like, so it is impossible to fit the full category of female or male (idem: 130). This makes
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for confusion and misunderstanding in society when a person does not behave correctly in terms of their gender.
This can, for example, be seen in women entering the (paid) labor market and leaving their children at home. The original female gender role states that women should be the caretakers of their children and their homes and by doing so, they should not be working. It is expected for mothers to start working in part-time and when they work more than three days in a week, they are seen as bad and cold mothers who put their career for their children (Wouters 2018: 57). When women or mothers still focus on their careers, they can expect the works around the house waiting for them at home (Mügge 2013: 166). So, if women would like to do more paid work, they still carry the burden of unpaid labor at home and the stigma of being a bad wife or mother. This makes it harder to build a career for a woman and is a factor in the representation of women in politics.
Female Representation
Very often, female representation in parliaments and governments is not the biggest case to focus on (Wouters 2018: 38, Galligan 2013: 414). Before a nation-state will focus on gender equality, problems as a failing economy, war and peace agreements need to be solved. It is simply seen as not that problematic that it will affect the nation's future in such a negative way as a failing economy. This is one of the reasons that it is important to have more women in politics, to prevent these lines of thought from happening (Galligan 2013: 414). Women have a different view on politics since they have a different point of view on life, this is an example of standpoint theory (Smith 1997: 393). Women experience all-day life differently than men do and therefore know about specific gendered problems they have to face every day. Therefore it is use- and helpful to include women in national politics. Despite that it is useful to have more women in political power positions, it seems to be hard actually getting women into these positions, although women seem to do better in proportional representation systems than in plurality-majority systems (Hughes & Paxton 2008: 247). Several studies have shown that there seems to be bias towards electing males and seeing the gender representation gap as something individual rather than something structural (Side 2009, Matthews 2012). So the excuse of not having enough women because they seem to be unfindable does not apply here. It depends on the political culture, which is the embodiment of society’s attitudes and values, whether a woman is found to be suited for the political process and life (Hill 1981: 160). Specific traditions and cultures in a country hinder women’s representation in politics. For example, the tradition that the woman is the main caretaker of her children and that she, therefore, besides having to resign from any other work, lowers her chances at the labor market and because of that, lowers her chances of being politically represented (Iversen & Rosenbluth 2008: 480). Because if society's attitudes confirm the bias against women working, the political culture will embrace that and incorporate it in selecting political
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candidates. When attitudes towards women working are more positive, it will work out in representation of the woman in the political area (ibid.). Besides the lack of women's political representation being politically cultural, it is also a consequence of the system. Often, political careers are built in the young years of a person, but that is often when women get pregnant and when their careers stagnate (idem: 481). Men benefit from seniority because they have time to build that career in their young years, since culture and tradition have determined that men should not have a part in parenting and raising their children as women do. Furthermore, men have dominated politics for so long, that a man is more likely to be seen as a political figure or leader than a woman (Baldez 2006: 103). This seeps into the bias against women in the selection procedure. But, remarkable is that political parties tend to be more motivated to include more female candidates in the party, when the female working population is growing, as a signal that the party takes that group more serious (Iversen & Rosenbluth 2008: 482).
Besides traditions and culture playing a major role in the election and representation of women in politics, institutionalization is also a great factor in this process. While it is true that the more institutionalized a system is, the better the rules are known and therefore the candidate can anticipate on the criteria, the system often implicitly discriminates against women (Caul 1999: 81). This makes it more difficult for a woman to get involved in the political process of becoming a member of parliament. If the institutionalized rules and laws are rigid, it is hard to bend them in favor of a woman. On the other side, if the rules are weaker, it becomes easier for the established community in parliament – such as white, old men – to maintain a certain level of homogeneity by the use of in-group biases (ibid.). The institutionalized rules must be in favor of equality and then be rigid, to make it more easy for women to get into politics. These rules must then also fit in with the party ideology; that is why leftist parties more often support women’s candidacies because of their strive for equality (idem: 82). More leftist parties then apply rules such as gender quotas to get more women in parliament.
Leadership
Feminine leadership is not taken for granted since femininity is not associated with leadership, as masculinity is (Pullen & Vacchani 2018: 131). This form of leadership suffers from stereotyping. Female leadership is often seen as the ‘other' form of leadership since hegemonic masculinity dominates leadership (idem: 127). Therefore, female leaders who adjust to the masculine form of leadership, are often viewed as traitors to women (idem: 134). They seem to reject the feminine identity, to accommodate to the dominant male culture in leadership positions. Female political leaders are viewed as the vanguards; individuals who directly challenge the current social norms or hierarchies (Hunt, Gonsalkorale, Zadro 2014: 723). This is through rejecting the prevailing idea of a leader being masculine or male. By becoming a vanguard, one finds themselves experiencing backlash from the community (ibid.). This is one of the reasons why female political leaders or female politicians in
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general, avoid promoting themselves. Seeing women in politics experience backlash, makes other women, with the intention of going into politics, reluctant to take on leadership roles (idem: 727). However, women low on confirming to feminine norms, do not experience this reluctance. In fact, it makes them want to run for a political career even more, due to being influenced by the female role model.
This goes in line with one of the four patterns of female leadership. When women start to work, there are four patterns they encounter in their work-life, as described by Joan C. Williams and Rachel Dempsey: Prove-It-Again, the Tightrope, the Maternal Wall and the Tug of War (Williams & Dempsey 2018: xiv). Each pattern will be explained in the following section. Starting with the first pattern, Prove-It-Again, this pattern means that a younger man with good credentials but little experience may be seen as a hiring opportunity, whilst a younger woman is more likely simply to be seen as inexperienced (idem: 26). Men are judged on their potential and women on their achievements. This is important to notice since if a woman never is seen as potential for a promotion or a certain job, she will never even have the chance to take the promotion or job. Besides, women's successes are more often overlooked and forgotten than men's, so she will have to prove herself over and over again that she is the right fit for the job. Moreover, having to prove it again, hangs together with stereotypes surrounding leadership and gender, since the assumption often is that men are more self-motivated and better leaders than women are. This goes together with in-group and out-group bias; if a selection committee is an all-white, male, senior and heterosexual group, the chances are much lower for a woman, a woman of color or a bi-sexual woman of color (idem: 34). This is because members of a certain group often see newcomers as less trustworthy and less valuable than old-time members (Nijstad 2009: 201). This in-group bias is only reduced when the different in-groups share an overarching identity, such as race or economic status. This is why it is easier for a white woman to get into a commission than for a black woman when the commission is an all-white male committee. Women constantly have to prove it again, since they do not check the boxes of the biases connected to leadership and men in the meantime do. There always seem to be unconscious thoughts that women are not half as good as men for a certain job or promotion and therefore have to work twice as hard to achieve it (Williams & Dempsey 2018: 41).
The second pattern is the Tightrope pattern. This has to do with performing gender as too feminine or too masculine for a woman at work (idem: 60). When a woman is too feminine, she is viewed as frivolous and judged low on competence and when a woman is too masculine, she is viewed as the bitch nobody can work with. In other words, there is no way a woman can perform well at both her gender as her work at the same time. With performing her gender, a woman is often thought of as warm, considering, shy and dependent (Wouters 2018: 52, Stamnes 2012: 180). But a leader at work has to be the complete opposite, so a female leader at work faces completely different stereotypes that are hard to combine, since success and leadership are combined with masculinity (ibid.). When a woman is too nice – and by that too feminine -- she will get walked over by the entire office and by that is not
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seen as a threat (Williams & Dempsey 2018: 67). By displaying feminine treats and looks, women at work are often not being taken seriously as a person with authority. However, female leadership is often also associated with ethical leadership, creating a good environment in the workplace and effective organizing (Pullen & Vacchani 2018: 137). But, once a woman becomes a threat, she is suddenly called a leader, but also a bitch. She is then fit for the job and has achieved success, but is then described as ‘bitter’ or ‘selfish’ by her coworkers (Williams & Dempsey 2018: 71).
The third pattern is the Maternal Wall, which covers the problem working mothers encounter; keeping up the perfect balance between being available 24/7 and professional at work and at the same time being constantly available to the children and happy in the family life (idem: 129). It is often thought that once women have children, the need for a career has lessened, just like the ambition for a – higher or better – job. This is because of the popular opinion that women should stay home to take care of the children, which is for example still at 43% in favor of men working more and women staying at home more in the Netherlands (SCP 2018). There even is a push from within companies to pressure women to work in part-time when they receive their first or second child (Williams & Dempsey 2018: 131). Besides, women with no children tend to get a callback 2.1 times more than women with children. Mothers are often seen as warm and loving, but not as competent as their other female coworkers, who – as businesswomen – are often seen as cold and career-driven (idem: 134). This is where the Tightrope mechanism comes back. But also childless and child-free women face stigma in a way that it is frowned upon that these women do not want or do not have children and going off of that, they would have no social life or responsibilities (idem: 144-145).
The last pattern is the Tug of War, which is about female rivalry. The pattern starts with passing; adjusting yourself to a group by taking pains to assure the insiders that you are one of them (idem: 180). This may for women mean ‘being one of the boys', which leads to popularity under men because they do not have to adjust their – often sexist – behavior for a woman. In an office, there might be few women to work with – especially at the top – as a woman, so the pressure of adjusting to the ‘masculine culture' is much more higher (idem: 182). Moreover, there often is a place only for one woman at the table, so this creates a sense of competition amongst women in the workplace, because it is the one or the other woman, never both. There often is a form of feeling incompetent to equal the success of another woman by other women in the workplace, which builds up the negative feelings and jealousy against women being leaders or in a higher position (idem: 186). To avoid those negative feelings, women often do not want to fit the stereotypical box of the cold-hearted businesswoman, which connects to the Tightrope pattern. But there also seem to exist negative feelings towards women who do check the stereotypical box of being a woman – warm, loving and therefore incompetent – coming from the stereotypical businesswoman. This makes for female rivalry between two stereotypes and not wanting to fit in the box of that stereotype. So, women at work do not only face negativity from male coworkers, but also from female coworkers, because of their gender.
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In the media, female leaders do not get as much attention as male leaders do and when they do, they receive more negative coverage (Krogstad & Storvik 2012: 7). The description of the leaders is different as well, as female leaders tend to get portrayed more as conciliatory, compassionate, and sensitive, while male leaders are being described as strong, ambitious and tough (ibid.). Besides being commented on differently in the ways female leaders behave, other aspects of their being are judged more explicitly like their ways of appearance, which leads to creating an inner character based on their display. Women in politics tend to get defined first by their biology and then their politics (Ross & Comrie 2012: 971). Ross and Comrie (2012) also find, that female leaders often get more sexist reference than male leaders do, for example in how New Zealand's former prime minister Helen Clark is constantly being referred to her marital status, while this almost never happens to her then opponent John Key. This is sexist since her marital status has nothing to do with Clark being in politics. Media coverage is very crucial in the way politicians are understood and viewed, so stereotyping and sexism by the media is problematic in women becoming political leaders.
The hypotheses flowing from this theoretical framework will be:
H1: Negative gendered stereotypes lead to barriers in women's political aspirations. H2: Female political representation influences women's political aspirations positively.
H3: Traditional, structural, stereotypical patterns surrounding leadership influence women’s political aspiration negatively.
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Methods and cases
Methods
This thesis works from a cross-sectional, comparative research design in which two cases are being compared, which makes it a small-N study (Halperin & Heath 2017: 153). Only two cases are researched, so that makes for strong internal validity and weaker external validity (idem: 154). To finally be able to answer the research question, interviews were conducted. This is part of a qualitative research design, where the research is based on the discursive analysis of more loosely coded information for just a few cases (idem: 6). The choice for qualitative research was made because gender is not a subject that is to be simply fitted in a box or in statistical analysis. Gender is to be explained greatly to be able to understand it in the correct way. This is why interviews are the best option for the subject of this thesis. For the interviews, female members of both Dutch and German parliament and experts on female political leadership were consulted. The sampling was purposively fixed, a priori, as particular members or experts were asked to be interviewed (Bryman 2016: 410).
The Dutch members of parliament – two of them – were interviewed live and some members – five others –, who did not have the time for an interview, were interviewed via email or declared statements they made in the media, could be used as data. Members of Democraten66 (D66), GroenLinks, Partij voor de Vrijheid (PVV), Partij voor de Arbeid (PvdA) were interviewed or declared statements could be used for this thesis. The German members of parliament – five – were asked questions via email and the Dutch experts – three – on female political leadership were interviewed live. Members of Die Linke, Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands (SPD) and Christlich Demokratische Union Deutschlands (CDU) were interviewed for this thesis. In total, twelve members of the Dutch and German parliament and three experts were interviewed or were data collected from.
The interviews were guided by leading questions, which made the interviews semi-structured. The interviewees were asked questions about stereotypes about feminity and leadership, characteristics of leadership, gender in the private sphere and networks such as the Old Boys Network. Some interviews were conducted live, which made for more conversation and clarity in the conversation. Therefore, some interviews contain more data than others. To guarantee security and confidentiality, the interviewees could sign a form of consent where they could check off whether the conversation could be audio-recorded and how they would like to be identified in the thesis.
After interviewing, the audio files were transcribed and all the interviews were then coded1. The coding was to separate the answers from aspects of gender, representation, and leadership to
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provide a good analysis. The coding scheme and the interview questions are to be found in the Appendix.
Cases
To research female political leadership, the choice was made to analyze the Netherlands and Germany. This is because the Netherlands and Germany are two very similar countries, political wise (Rijksdienst voor Ondernemend Nederland 2019). Political culture is an essential factor in this research since culture makes for stereotypes and traditions in a country, which has to do again with female political leadership and representation. The similarity is crucial since Germany does have a female prime-minister/chancellor, Angela Merkel, and the Netherlands do not. If they are so comparable, then why does the Netherlands not have/has never had a female prime minister?
The main case in the comparison is the case of the Netherlands. The Netherlands has never had a female prime minister, ever (Atria 2017). Since 1890, the Dutch women’s movement has been fighting for the electoral right, because ever since the electoral right was expanded for a bigger group of men, women still were excluded from voting (Aerts et al. 2013: 180). After a lot of battles, the passive electoral right for women was introduced in 1917, which meant people could select women to represent them in parliament (idem: 189). After that, in 1919 the active right to vote for women was made effective (idem: 194). Ever since, the Netherlands has had very few female political leaders, in contrast to men (Parlement 2019a). A woman has never made it to the position of Dutch prime minister, although there have been female party leaders, but those were only leaders of small parties who could never deliver the prime minister. These were women such as Ria Beckers, Andrée van Es, Femke Halsema and Marianne Thieme (Parlement 2019b). In the last parliamentary elections, only 47 Dutch female politicians were chosen to serve the country in parliament, which is 36% of the total 150 seats (Parlement 2019a). This is a decrease in the last parliamentary elections in 2012 in which the total was 40% (Atria 2017). In 2019, the women's share in Dutch politics has even declined more to 31,3% of the total seats in the national parliament (Inter-Parliamentary Union 2019).
The other case in the comparison is Germany. In 1918, German women got the right to vote (Vereniging voor Gendergeschiedenis 2019). This also did not go without a fight, because in 1843, Louise Otto-Peters grounded the German women’s movement (Nave-Herz 2013: 7). After that, in 1865, the ‘Allgemeine Deutsche Frauenverein’ was established (idem: 11). When the German women were given the active and passive electoral vote, the population chose 37 women to serve in the German parliament in the elections of 1919, that being 9,6% of the total Bundestag (LPB 2019). In 2009, the share of German women in politics was 32,8% (BPB 2009). And now in 2019, the share of German women is 30,9% of the total Bundestag (Inter-Parliamentary Union 2019). Germany, in comparison to
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the Netherlands, does have a female political prime-minister/chancellor; Angela Merkel. She was the first female chancellor to hold this position in 2005 (Elise Wiliarty 2008: 81). Merkel originates from the Christian Democratic Union – CDU – and has many years of political experience on her record. She held positions such as Minister for Women and Youth, CDU Secretary-General and Chair of the CDU (ibid.). In 1990, she was elected for the former position by Helmut Kohl and as an East-German citizen, she was of symbolic value to the parliament and to the finally unified Germany (idem: 86). Merkel has now served for 14 years, and for 18 years as the head of the CDU party, which has now come to an end since Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer – also known as AKK and also a female member of the CDU – has taken over the position of head of the party and might become the next chancellor (BBC 2018).
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Results
To be able to provide a good analysis, the answers of the interviewees were coded. This analysis will first set out data about gender and then connect that to the theories explained in the theoretical framework. The same method is used for other theories about representation and leadership. In the end, follows a full comparison between the Netherlands and Germany.
Gender
To start with gender, femininity is always seen as the exception on the rule (de Beauvoir 1949/2011: 13). Masculinity then is the rule or norm in society. This is the same for politics, which is a reflection of society in democracies with a proportional representative system. If politics is then a reflection, the norms and rules in a certain society will also have part in the culture of the homeland's politics (Hill 1981: 160). This is illustrated by several Dutch politicians, for example by Antje Diertens – member of parliament for D66 – who stated: “Men do not always intrinsically think of women as equal partners to work with.” (Diertens 2019). It is to be seen here that women still are othered in their workplace, which makes it more difficult to integrate into the workplace and have a significant position. One member of parliament, Fleur Agema – member of PVV – even stated that she does not care for the gender of the prime minister (Agema 2019). Attje Kuiken – member of parliament for PvdA – states that there still are stereotypes for women that hinder them: “(…) Furthermore, there are stereotypes that often make things a bit more difficult for women. Women who get angry, are quickly hysterical, while men are seen as decisive.” (Kuiken 2019). These stereotypes go back to the stereotypes set out by Wouters (2018) and Stamnes (2012); women are expected to be loving, shy, weak, dependent and happy (Wouters 2018: 52, Stamnes 2012: 180). This is part of seeing women as a homogenous group and giving them a certain social identity (Brewer 2001: 116). The disadvantage of being put in a homogenous group with stereotypes is part of the statement of Diertens: when a certain stereotype is attached to a group – like female politicians in this case – it is harder to break out of the stereotype and to prove yourself as an individual. This hinders Dutch female politicians in their workplace and in making a career for themselves. Another member of the Dutch parliament confirms this, whilst talking about needing luck to become a political leader: “I think that for a man that also depends on luck, but does a woman needs to be luckier? Yes, I think so, because they have to come from a disadvantaged position.” (Member of Dutch parliament 2019).
Having to be lucky, is also confirmed by Kirsten Lühmann – member of German parliament for SPD – when she states the following: “I think both men and women (probably women more often) need luck to become a leader. This not only applies to the political sphere, but also to other sectors.” (Lühmann 2019). Also in Germany, women come from a disadvantaged position, which still hinders
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women in politics of making a career. She elaborates on that by saying: “Stereotypes and the resulting ordinary discrimination can still explain the relatively low number of women in political leadership positions. Traditional career paths and cultural norms, that created and reinforced these paths, simply did not allow women to acquire the skills needed to be in leadership positions.” (ibid.). This illustrates the creation of gender roles for women and how they still hinder women in pursuing a political career (West & Zimmerman 1987: 126-127). Gender roles make for idealizations of femininity and masculinity and when a person does not live up to these expectations, this makes for confusion and misunderstanding (ibid.). The same goes for the stereotype for women to become mothers and therefore taking up the full responsibility for the children. A member of German parliament confirms this by stating that the gender divide in the private sphere – such as parental obligations or the division of domestic duties – still plays a major role: "Yes, the gender role of women in the family plays a major role in leadership decisions. Many women forgo these reasons for a career. Unless your partner is willing to play that role, to place yourself behind the woman, to place yourself behind the woman and support her. That was the case with my own career ambitions.” (Member of German parliament 2019). Besides, the ways in which women are treated are viewed upon, have a clear effect on having to work harder – and Prove-It-Again – to show they are worthy colleagues, a statement supported by Marie-Luise Dött – member of German parliament for CDU–: "(…) A woman may need a little more luck to meet people in her life who appreciate and support her and her work. Women get into political positions with hard work and a little bit of luck is always a part of it, especially to prevail against male colleagues.” (Dött 2019).
Representation
Women experience different things in life, due to a different treatment which is due to gender roles, so that is why women bring another particular perspective with them in politics, which is called standpoint theory (Smith 1997: 393). Different perspectives add to a more inclusive policy, so more women in parliament are valuable to a democratic country. Unfortunately, structures within a democracy – such as networks and institutions – often prohibit women from breaking through the glass ceiling of becoming a political leader. This is underlined by Kathalijne Buitenweg – member of parliament for Groenlinks – who states the following about gender quota: “So many other things play a role, so that's what I always say with such quota, and it's not so much to favor women, but to take away the benefit that men now have, both now, as for the future, by creating an image of leadership and therefore it is necessary now to ensure that there are more women at the top.” (Buitenweg 2019). Men still have the force majeure in politics, because there are more men in politics than women. What is being said in the quote, is that the traditional structure of politics hinders women in politics. This goes back to selection committees or procedures according to Julia Wouters – former political advisor of former deputy prime
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minister Lodewijk Asscher (PvdA)–: “Women are less often members of a political party than men, the old-fashioned scouting is still just among your members and preferably also the active members.” (Wouters 2019). The traditional way in which people are asked to join politics does not work for women and obstructs their ways in making a successful political career work. The way in which people get recruited then needs to change. What hangs together with recruiting, is a network. Dutch politics still are under the influence of the so-called Old Boys Network, which is underlined by Liesbeth van Tongeren – member of parliament for GroenLinks–: "(…) Although it is now 2018, national politics in the Netherlands is still a man's stronghold ” (Kammer 2019). Antje Diertens confirms this: “Unfortunately, this is still due to the fact that we are not sufficiently represented in those networks.” (Diertens 2019). If nothing is done to make the network more diverse, this remains another factor in the underrepresentation of women in politics and the absence of a female Dutch prime minister.
Not only in the Netherlands does the Old Boys Network have an impact on female careers in politics, but in Germany, this also is the case. This is illustrated by Kirsten Lühmann: "These networks also tend to view women as objects and overlook their accomplishments. In general, women have less chance of becoming members of an Old Boys Network. You have to be friends with the mostly older and male decision-makers - and be sympathetic to these decision-makers. For many women, this is the unacceptable way to build networks.” (Lühmann 2019). Overall, it is emphasized that a network is important for both men as for women in politics: “Men are sometimes better networked, e.g. Stammtisch, etc. But it does not work without backing, with or without Old Boys Networks.” (Schimke 2019). Besides having a sufficient network, the structure or ideology in a party is crucial for women’s representation (Caul 1999: 82). If it is valuable to the party’s ideology to include more women, parties could also take advantage of quota to involve more women in politics. This is underlined by Martina Bunge – member of Die Linke – who states the following about fighting the Old Boys Network by institutionalization: “Against that, only consistent quotation helps as a demarcation.” (Bunge 2019). Quota can help with the current perspective as dominated by men and women having no place in it (Baldez 2006: 103). This is not only good for women and young girls as symbolic value and as a motive to go into politics, but also for the decrease of ingroup and outgroup bias in selection committees (Hunt, Gonsalkorale & Zadro 2014: 723, Caul 1999: 81, Nijstad 2009: 201). These ingroup and outgroup biases can be traced back into German parliament as well: “Centuries of exclusively male politics still influence the often unconscious behavior of men in various political bodies. Among themselves, they often feel more familiar and thereby create partially closed circles. The characteristics of other men, who are similar to their own, are more appreciated and valued than women's sometimes different approaches and behaviors, which may then be reflected in internal electoral procedures.” (Dött 2019). So if the party system and its negative structure are changed, politics become more accessible for women (Mügge 2019). But, it is emphasized that quota are a temporary solution to the more structural
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problem: “Quota rules are only auxiliary crutches and not an optimal solution.” (Member of German parliament 2019).
Leadership
Leadership is associated with masculinity, which makes it much more difficult for a woman to make a good political leader (Pullen & Vacchani 2018: 131). Also in Dutch politics, this is, after 102 years of the passive right to vote, still the case. These stereotypes are widely confirmed by the interviewed Dutch female politicians: "(…) You actually go for leadership images that have been shaped by the past and that is why men just have an advantage.” (Buitenweg 2019). This statement is also shared among another member of Dutch parliament: “I think that if you always see that a leader is a man, that you will also recognize that in a positive sense and with talented men and that you might be less likely to put talented women down there.” (Member of Dutch parliament 2019). These stereotypes are constantly confirmed by the media, which is the translation of what happens in politics for the ordinary citizen. The media play a significant role in how politics is put in perspective and how it is framed (Van der Pas 2019). This comes back in how different female politicians are described from male politicians because they cannot meet the leadership qualities described for politics, which hangs together with the Tightrope pattern (Williams & Dempsey 2018: 60). This is also stated by Attje Kuiken: “‘Female’ traits are valued less than male traits. That is often not consciously, but subtly still present.” (Kuiken 2019). By appreciating female traits less than male traits, women could experience fewer opportunities or support in the party. Furthermore, since masculinity is associated with leadership, this also makes for a masculine culture in politics, which makes politics less attractive for women with political aspirations. Women have to adjust and alter themselves to be able to fit in and to be able to make a good political leader: “Not only in politics, but also in my previous working life, I see that many women take over the management style of men.” (Diertens 2019). This can be traced back to the fact that there are not many female political role models for Dutch women to look up to and to learn from, something Nevin Özötuk – member of GroenLinks – agrees upon: “As a parliamentarian, I see myself as a role model for that, but I would feel a lot better represented with a female prime minister. And we could have had that at least 30 years ago if we had put women on number one more often.” (Van Es 2019). The fact that there have not been many women on number one, could have to do with the Prove-It-Again pattern, where the big decisions, which are often made by the prime minister, are left out for women. Kathalijne Buitenweg confirms this line of thought; “(…) But as the person ultimately responsible for the country, it is soon thought and said that very difficult decisions have to be made, which not everyone likes, and then there is a quicker doubt whether a woman can do that.” (Buitenweg 2019).
The stereotypes surrounding leadership can also be found in Germany. Kirsten Lühmann states the following about it: “Even in our democratic societies, leaders are associated with typical
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"masculine" characteristics such as dominance, self-assurance, autonomy, and so on. As a result, positions of leadership and leadership are more likely to be associated with men than women. When women who have qualities that are considered positive in men, women who act in such a way, seen negative (bitchy, overbearing).” (Lühmann 2019). It is illustrated that the Tightrope pattern is present in German politics as well (Williams & Dempsey 2018: 60). To be seen here is that stereotypes and traditional structures still have a major part in female political representation (Mügge 2019). It hinders women in the same way as it does in the Netherlands: “(…) Similar characteristics are attributed to the leadership of women: they are more sensitive, more consensual and people-oriented. However, these seemingly "positive" stereotypes do not describe the reality and not the different personalities of women in leadership positions. In addition, they create a picture of female leadership that is neither efficient nor capable of decision making.” (Dött 2019). Another member of German parliament elaborates on that by stating the following: “Traditional, trained and educated male leadership patterns must be overcome. But to change that, there would also have to be more women seeking some leadership roles.” (Member of German parliament 2019). More similarities can be found in the way that politics are organized since, in Germany, politics also take on a masculine form. This is also a reason for politics being repellant for women since that is not a style of working all women like. Women have to reject their female identity to accommodate to the dominant male culture in leadership positions (Pullen & Vacchani 2018: 134). This is again underlined by Kirsten Lühmann with a critical note: “It is stereotypically assumed that to step into a leadership role, a woman must adhere to the political rules of a ‘male world’. However, now that democracy requires a more participatory leadership style, the ‘feminine style’ is increasingly turning into effective leadership. In order to succeed, men will not only have to honor this style of their female colleagues but will have to acquire the same skills.” (Lühmann 2019).
Comparison
Overall, every variable – gender, representation, and leadership – matches in the two chosen cases. The first variable is gender. Both countries are suffering from gendered stereotypes that make for disadvantaged positions and fewer chances to make it as a female political leader. Gendered stereotypes ensure that women get a different treatment from men and therefore experience othering. This is the case in both the Netherlands as Germany. Moving forward to the first hypothesis:
H1 Negative gendered stereotypes lead to barriers for women’s political aspiration. This hypothesis can be confirmed for both cases. On the basis of the interviewee's answers, the presence of stereotypes still emerges in national politics in both the Netherlands as Germany.
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The next variable, representation, had similar aspects to it in both cases. The network – and in particular the Old Boys Network – surfaces constantly in the Netherlands as well as in Germany. Female German and Dutch politicians notice that women still are not as present in important networks as they should be. Not only the network has an impact on the representation of women in national politics, but also the system a party implements has a major impact on women's political representation. That is the only difference between German politics and Dutch politics since some parties in Germany work with women's quota to advance female politicians (Bunge 2019). Moving towards the second hypothesis:
H2: Female political representation influences women's political aspirations positively. This hypothesis can be confirmed for both cases. Female political representation influences women’s political aspiration positively, in both formal – in representative political positions – and in informal – networks – parts, on the basis of the interviewees' answers
The last variable, leadership, is associated with masculinity in both cases. Again, stereotypes hinder women in becoming a credible political leader. Both Dutch as German politicians confirm that this regular in national politics and that they recognize it to this day. The media play a big role in this, by portraying politics and female politicians in stereotypical ways (Van der Pas 2019). Moreover, female politicians in both countries try to adjust to the masculine culture of politics to be able to come along and fit in. However, in Germany as in the Netherlands, this is often not appreciated, which is to be connected to the Prove-It-Again and the Tightrope pattern (Williams & Dempsey 2018). The last hypothesis is the following:
H3: Traditional, structural, stereotypical patterns surrounding leadership influence women’s political aspiration negatively.
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Conclusion
In this Bachelor’s thesis, research was conducted on why there has never been a female prime minister in the Netherlands and why this has been the case in Germany for fourteen years. To be able to find an answer to this question, theories about gender, representation, and leadership had to be demonstrated. The gender section elaborated on stereotypes and expectations surrounding femininity. The theory of Simone de Beauvoir (1949/2011) was the basis of this passage. It became clear how women are put in a homogenous group with a certain social identity, which eventually disadvantages them (Brewer 2001). How that disadvantages them, was discussed in the representation section. Popular opinions about women eventually are reflected in national politics (Hill 1981: 160). This works out in bias towards women by selection committees and in application procedures, but also within a party and its implementation of a certain structure, the biases come forward. Eventually, that connects to representation in female leadership roles. Stereotypes in how leadership is perceived, lead to the connection of leadership to masculinity (Pullen & Vacchani 2018: 131). It becomes more difficult for a woman to become a political leader. Different gendered patterns and structures aggravate these obstacles, but those are not the only influential factors; the media and its portrayal of politics have a major part in it as well (Krogstad & Storvik 2012: 7, Ross & Comrie 2012).
After the theoretical section, the qualitative data was attached to the theory discussed previously. All three hypotheses were confirmed for both countries. There were no significant differences in the answers of the Dutch and German politicians. This makes it troublesome to come to a conclusion needed to answer the research question. The only thing that can partly explain the difference between Germany having a female prime minister/chancellor and the Netherlands not, is that the biggest party has to deliver the premier and that in the German case, the biggest party had a female party leader. But to research why this party did put a woman at the top of the party and other parties do not, the structure and traditions and the causes of these factors need to be examined. What this thesis has made clear, is that traditions and structures of stereotyping and imaging of politics, gender, representation, and leadership eventually hinder women from political aspiration in itself. The road after that – becoming party leader and eventually becoming prime minister – is also connected to all these structures and patterns. Concluding, there is no such thing as one answer to the lack of a female Dutch prime minister. Stereotyping and structure are deeply embedded in Dutch society, which makes it hard to break through such rigid institutionalization. But if Dutch politics really want female politicians and eventually a female prime minister, excuses of women not ‘being there’ need to be cut off and by doing so, the system needs to start the change.
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Discussion
Shortcomings of this research were the balance between the number of Dutch respondents and German respondents. It would be interesting and valuable to have more data on German politicians, especially from other parties such as Alternative für Deutschland – AfD – or Freie Demokratische Partei – FDP – , since those parties might have a different explanation to the posed problem. The same goes for the Netherlands with more data from other parties such as Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie – VVD – or Forum voor Democratie – FvD – since those are more right-wing parties and might hold different ideas. The fact that there were fewer German respondents than Dutch respondents, might influence the validity of the research.
What is interesting for further research on this topic, is to examine how this problem can actually be solved and how long it will take for society and politics to change its opinions towards female political leadership. Such kind of research could be longitudinal research, to explore whether these solutions are only part-time solutions or more structural ones. Cross-sectional, longitudinal research could be of use as well since the cause of the problems can be found in a more precise way.
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Appendix
Coding scheme thesis
Gender
Stereotypes, social construct, minority, hierarchy, gender roles, maternal wall
Representation
Standpoint theory, power position, tradition, culture, structure, institution, network.
Leadership
Leadership as masculine, social norms, role models, prove-it-again, tightrope, tug of war, media.
Interesting quotes
Questions interviews
1. Can you tell me something about your role and tasks within your organization? How long have you been in this position or with this organization?
2. Has or has your organization had important female (political) leaders?
3. What must a woman have to become a leader? From an institutional point of view (voter system, party culture) and a personal point of view (characteristics).
4. Does a woman need to be lucky to become a political leader? More than a man?
5. What role do stereotypes around femininity (sweet, weak, dependent, etc.) play in becoming a leader as a woman?
6. Does the gender gap in the private sphere (such as the division of tasks within the household or the possible parental role) play a role in networking or building a career for a woman? If yes/no, why?
7. What role does a woman's network play in becoming a leader?
8. What role does the Old Boys Network play in hindering becoming a female leader? 9. How do stereotypes around leadership influence women in becoming leaders?
10. Would you say that women are or were underrepresented in leadership roles in Dutch/German politics? What is that about?
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