Ruge, Alina (2022) A qualitative investigation into experiences of sexism among women in Dutch politics and influences on career-related outcomes. Bachelor thesis, Global Responsibility & Leadership (GRL).
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Abstract
Despite tremendous progress, gender inequalities remain in politics in the 21st century. Women are often underrepresented as voters and decision-makers. This is also the case in the Netherlands, even though it has been one of the first countries to implement women's suffrage. Women are not equally represented due to barriers they face in the workplace that hinder their work advancement. The underlying mechanism of these barriers is often sexism as a system-justifying belief toward female politicians. The main barriers identified in the literature have been that 1) politics is a place for men, 2) women need to perform their job besides their (part-time) job as a caretaker for children and the household, 3) and the negative media portrayal of women. However, existing studies have not considered how various forms of sexism impact female politicians. This research addresses this gap by investigating to what extent women in politics experience subtle or overt forms of sexism and how this influences their career-related outcomes. Qualitative research with eight semi-structured interviews was conducted. Dutch female politicians were interviewed on disadvantages they experienced in politics based on their gender, the impacts on their career development, and the intentionality of sexist behaviour. The results have shown that women in politics are significantly affected by subtle forms of sexism concerning work promotion and evaluation. Hostile forms of sexism were rather present on social media channels and within stereotypical comments. The research has substantial implications for improving female politicians' support in the Netherlands, thereby reducing the impacts of sexism. This study contributes to current knowledge on sexism and gender equality within politics. Keywords: ambivalent sexism theory, sexism, gender stereotype, modern sexism, gender and politics, women
| Item Type: | Thesis (Bachelor) |
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| Name supervisor: | Gul, P. |
| Date Deposited: | 09 Sep 2022 13:52 |
| Last Modified: | 09 Sep 2022 13:52 |
| URI: | https://campus-fryslan.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/138 |
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