Casting the 'Other': gender Positioningsin Politicians' Narratives

• Autores: Barbara Poggio
• Localización: Papers: revista de sociología, ISSN-e 2013-9004, ISSN 0210-2862, Vol. 95, Nº 2, 2010, págs. 257-275
• Idioma: inglés
• DOI: 10.5565/rev/papers/v95n2.22
• Enlaces
  • Texto completo
• Resumen
  • español

    Durante el siglo pasado la presencia de la mujer en la �esfera pública� se incrementó considerablemente gracias, entre otras cosas, al rápido ascenso de sus niveles de escolarización, competencias profesionales y participación en el mercado de trabajo. Mucho más lento y limitado, en contraste, ha sido el acceso de la mujer a los puestos ejecutivos y de decisión. Eso nos lleva a una necesaria reflexión sobre la ciudadanía de género en política, necesaria precisamente en cada acción que se ha de emprender para sensibilizar y cambiar el amplio contexto social. El texto presenta algunos resultados de investigación cualitativa que reunió a las narrativas de hombre y mujeres -pertenecientes a diferentes alineamientos políticos italianos y ocupando diferentes posiciones y roles- en relación con su carrera política y los discursos dirigidos a las mujeres de menor representación. El análisis de los textos recogidos permite arrojar luz sobre las políticas discursivas, símbolos, imágenes y significados sexuales.

  • English

    In the past century the presence of women in the 'public sphere' has increased considerably as a result of, amongst other things, the rapid increase in their levels of schooling, professional competences and labour market participation. Much more limited and slower, by contrast, has been the entry of women into the centres of decision-making and power. This makes necessary a reflection on gender citizenship in political arenas, which are precisely those in which actions to sensitize and change the broader social context should be undertaken. The paper presents some findings of a qualitative research which gathered the narratives of men and women -belonging to different Italian political alignments and occupying different positions and roles- relative to their political career paths and the discourses with which they accounted for female under representation. The analysis of the collected texts allowed to shed light to on the discursive practices, symbols, meanings and sexed images with which the symbolic gender order is created and reproduced. Particularly highlighted are the gender positioning performed through the narratives and the tendency to cast women in the role of the 'Other' with respect to the political system.

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