POLITICAL and CITIZENSHIP DIMENSION

Transcription

1 POLITICAL and CITIZENSHIP DIMENSION Coordinated and prepared by Folkuniversitetet team: Ingmarie Rohdin and Martin Persson Collaborators: CRAS team Introduction The civil society constitutes a Third system for delivery of social welfare. Similar to the family-system, key concepts are participation and citizenship. By being part of different networks, the individual, in case of hardship, can achieve social support from civil society and the voluntary sector. This system operates in different ways; sometimes highly informal and sometimes more formalized. Friends or neighbours supporting one to another in situations of hardship or to improve day-to-day life and social welfare on a more general level can constitute informal networks on an individual level. Formalized networks can be illustrated by membership in for example organizations, clubs or churches, which in various ways have social obligations and tasks with respect to the social well-being of their members. Many foreigners do not even have the possibilities to vote, a fact that hampers, of course, their interest to take part in domestic politics, despite many of these people are or have been- very active in the political field in their home countries. Isolation and apathy are often effects of social exclusion and this paradoxically results in a low political activity among people who ought to be in the most need of taking part in political activities both at the local, regional and national level. Exclusion takes on a political character when certain categories of the population such as women, ethnic and religious minorities, or migrants- are deprived of part or all of their political and human rights. Entire portions of a society may be excluded from the enjoyment of effective citizenship and from participation in those areas where decisions are taken. The proposal of quantitative indicators exposed in this section aims to capture exclusion processes in the dimension of political participation as well as the gender specificity of these processes. Three thematic areas structure this proposal: access to rights, involvement and participation in political and societal mechanisms and, finally, perceptions and expectations about 185

2 the political sphere. But two factors should be taken into consideration before looking at the indicators. On the one hand, together with the following quantitative tools, we propose to use indicators developed in the dimension of social networks to measure women s political participation. As we consider that it goes beyond the strict political system, some indicators measuring women s networks can be also used to analysed inclusion/exclusion processes at political level. On the other hand, it has been difficult to develop indicators for this dimension and not only the quantitative ones but also the qualitative variables. Few experiences, situations or feelings related to exclusion processes in this dimension appeared in the fieldwork. For that reason, we consider that it is necessary further research to analyse deeply how women live exclusion processes in terms of disadvantages in the political participation. Two teams have been working in the quantitative proposal for the political participation, CRAS and Folkuniversitetet. Therefore, the viability analysis was done with Italian and Swedish sources. These sources are: ULF, National Survey of Living Conditions, Sweden. Italian National Statistical Institute (ISTAT). Many indicators come from the system of seven surveys named Indagini multiscopo (Multipurpose surveys). A main feature of these surveys is that they are repeated regularly (time periods are one year for one survey and five years for the others) and some of them are coordinated at European level from Eurostat, so they are also present in other EU countries, making possible the comparison of the indicators at European level. The same features apply to the Labour Force Survey, the Consumption Survey and EU-SILC (named Indagine sulle condizioni di vita in the following tables). Others indicators come from administrative sources or yearly survey for which ISTAT cooperates with public institutions like the Ministry of Education (MIUR), the Ministry of Justice and others. Even these sources are regularly up-dated. 186

3 Other public sources. Some proposed indicators are based on other sources in which ISTAT is not involved. This is the case of some international OECD surveys in the field of Education like PISA and ALL. Administrative or survey data were also considered coming from the Bank of Italy, Trade Unions and Caritas diocesana (a religious organization involved in social services for homeless), or environmental organizations like Lega ambiente. These data sources are regularly up-dated and accessible. 187

4 QUANTITATIVE S a) Access to rights: lack of legal permits and restriction of social rights Access to rights: lack of legal permits Qualitative Lack of legal permits. POL 1 - Percentage of adult people entitled to political rights - In the Italy context data exist but they are not published. - In the Swedish context there are published data in ULF, National Survey of Living Conditions. Qualitative indicators without quantitative translation but that should be considered for understanding women s exclusion processes in the political and citizenship dimension Thematic Area Qualitative Access to rights Restrictions of social rights A social right is a too complex concept to be measured with an indicator. It should be more concretely defined in order to make it more measurable. Impact on policy level s: POL 1 and the qualitative proposal These are indicators trying to measure the clearest exclusion process developed in this dimension, and this is the lack or the restriction of social and political rights due to the lack of legal permits. Despite the difficulties, it is necessary to develop tools that shed light on the lack of recognition of certain social groups as citizens. 188

5 b) Qualitative Degree of participation and role in Trade Unions POL 2 Percentage of women joined in Trade Unions - In Italy, there are existing data but they are not published in Indagine Multiscopo: Aspetti de la vita quotidiana, Multipurpose survey: Daily life aspects ISTAT (Question nº of the Questionnaire nº.2), Five-years survey. - In Sweden, there are published data in ULF, National Survey of Living Conditions. Qualitative Degree of participation and role in Trade Unions POL 3 Percentage of women who, in the last year, carried out free activities for the Trade Unions Existing data but not published in Indagine Multiscopo: Aspetti de la vita quotidiana, Multipurpose survey: Daily life aspects ISTAT (Question nº of the Questionnaire nº.2), Five-years survey. Qualitative Degree of participation and role in political parties and elections. POL 4 - Average number of hours dedicated to the Trade Union activity per month by sex and looking at existing gender gap - In the Italy context data exist but they are not published in Indagine Multiscopo: Aspetti de la vita quotidiana, Multipurpose survey: Daily life aspects. - In the Swedish context there are published data in ULF. 189

6 Qualitative Degree of participation and role in political parties and elections POL 5 Percentage of women joined in political parties - In Italy, there are existing data but they are not published in Indagine Multiscopo: Aspetti de la vita quotidiana, Multipurpose survey: Daily life aspects ISTAT (Question nº of the Questionnaire nº.2), Five-years survey. - In Sweden, there are published data in ULF, National Survey of Living Conditions. Qualitative Degree of participation and role in political parties and elections. POL 6 - Average number of hours dedicated to political activity per month by sex and looking at existing gender gap. - In the Italy context data exist but not published Indagine Multiscopo: Aspetti de la vita quotidiana, Multipurpose survey: Daily life aspects ISTAT (Question nº of the Questionnaire nº.2), Five-years survey. - In the Swedish context there are existing data and published in ULF, National Survey of Living Conditions. Qualitative Degree of participation and role in political parties and elections POL 7 Percentage of women who voted in the last elections Existing data but not published in Ministry of Internal Affairs in Italy. 190

7 Qualitative Degree of participation in societal and local community organizations POL 8 Percentage of women joining several kinds of organizations: voluntary, ecological, pacifist, cultural organizations, etc. A very similar proposal can be found in the dimension of social networks: SOC 18 Percentage of population that is member of at least one of the following associations: sport club, religious centres, associations of civil rights, associations of free time, professional associations, Trade Unions, political groups. By sex and looking at gender differences. - Existing data but not published in Italy in Indagine Multiscopo: Aspetti de la vita quotidiana, Multipurpose survey: Daily life aspects ISTAT (Question nº of the Questionnaire nº.2), Five-years survey. - Existing and published data in Sweden in ULF, National Survey of Living Conditions. Qualitative Degree of participation and role in Trade Unions POL 9 Percentage of women who, in the last year, carried out free activities for an organization Existing data but not published in Indagine Multiscopo: Aspetti de la vita quotidiana, Multipurpose survey: Daily life aspects ISTAT (Question nº of the Questionnaire nº.2), Five-years survey. It is necessary to list and define the organizations. Considering the proposal of SOC 18, we talk about sport clubs, religious centres, associations of civil rights, associations of free time, professional associations, Trade Unions, political groups. Qualitative Degree of participation in societal and local community organizations. POL 10 - Average number of hours spent in socio-cultural organizations activities per month by sex and looking at existing gender gap. - In the Italy context data exist but they are not published in Indagine Multiscopo: Aspetti de 191

8 la vita quotidiana, Multipurpose survey: Daily life aspects ISTAT. - In the Swedish context there are published data in ULF, National Survey of Living Conditions. It is necessary to list and define the organizations. Considering the proposal of SOC 18, we talk about sport clubs, religious centres, associations of civil rights, associations of free time, professional associations, Trade Unions, political groups. Qualitative indicators without quantitative translation but that should be considered for understanding women s exclusion processes in the political and citizenship dimension Thematic Area Qualitative Involvement/participation Relationship between political participation and presence in public life in political or societal / Degree of social integration mechanisms Relationship between political participation and time use Impact on policy level s: POL 2/ 3/ 4/ 5/ 6/ 7/ 8/ 9/ 10 and the qualitative indicators This group of indicators aims to chart women s involvement in certain political organizations: Trade Unions, political parties and other organizations. The existing gender gap in the participation in this kind of organizations should be used to revise the aims, criteria and target group of these organizations in order to know to what extend they take into account women s interests, demands and needs. It should be also interesting to compare women s participation in formal and informal networks. It would be interesting to promote measures to increase women s involvement in organizations as one strategy for strengthening social links and avoiding social isolation. 192

9 c) Qualitative Degree of trust in political decision-making POL 11 Percentage of women who do not enquire about politic because they are discouraged Existing data but not published in Indagine Multiscopo: Aspetti de la vita quotidiana, Multipurpose survey: Daily life aspects ISTAT (Question nº of the Questionnaire nº.2), Five-years survey. Qualitative Degree of trust in political decision-making. POL 12 - Percentage of women who do not believe in politicians statements. - In the Italy context data exist but they are not published in Indagine Multiscopo: Aspetti de la vita quotidiana, Multipurpose survey: Daily life aspects ISTAT - In the Swedish context there are published data in ULF, National Survey of Living Conditions. Qualitative Subjective feeling of treatment by the society/ Government POL 13 Percentage of women participating in political meetings or marching in demonstrations Existing data but they are not published in Indagine Multiscopo: Aspetti de la vita quotidiana, Multipurpose survey: Daily life aspects ISTAT (Question nº of the Questionnaire nº.2), Five-years survey. Qualitative Subjective feeling of treatment by the society/government. 193

10 POL 14 - Percentage of women who consider their request being disregarded by the Government and society - In the Italy context data exist but they are not published in Indagine Multiscopo: Aspetti de la vita quotidiana, Multipurpose survey: Daily life aspects ISTAT. - In the Swedish context there are published data in ULF, National Survey of Living Conditions. - The unit of measure is individual, it can be divided in accordance to gender. Political and Citizenship dimension Perceptions and Expectations Qualitative Subjective feeling of the possibility to influence the Government decisions. POL 15 - Percentage of women who think they cannot influence the government decisions - In the Italy context data exist but they are not published in Indagine Multiscopo: Aspetti de la vita quotidiana, Multipurpose survey: Daily life aspects ISTAT. - In the Swedish context there are published data in ULF, National Survey of Living Conditions. Qualitative indicators without quantitative translation but that should be considered for understanding women s exclusion processes in the political and citizenship dimension Thematic Area Qualitative Perceptions and Contrast of attitudes towards involvement in direct community activity. expectations The aim would be to contrast if the lack of trust in the political system is compensated by the involvement in direct community networks. Relationship between democratic deficit and social exclusion (i.e. attitudes of socially excluded people towards the political representation system). 194

11 Impact on policy level s: POL 11/ 12/ 13/ 14/ 15 This section aims to capture subjective perceptions and expectations towards the political system. All these indicators are subjective measures collecting opinions. What becomes really interesting is to cross the results with other indicators proposed in other dimensions. This is the proposal of the qualitative indicators that remain without quantitative translation: for example, to cross distrust or scepticism with other indicators about incomes, education, etc.; or, for instance, to contrast participation in formal and informal networks. But, as it was said in the introduction of this section, these proposals of crossing different indicators go beyond the possibilities of this project. We would need further research to establish casual links among dimensions. 195

12 d) Discrimination against women in the political sphere Qualitative Discrimination against women in the political sphere (in party headquarters, associations, etc.) POL 16 Percentage of women joining political parties Existing data but they are not published in Indagine Multiscopo: Aspetti de la vita quotidiana, Multipurpose survey: Daily life aspects ISTAT (Question nº of the Questionnaire nº.2), Five-years survey. Qualitative Discrimination against women in the political sphere (in party headquarters, associations, etc.) POL 17 Percentage of women elected in the Parliament Ministry of Internal Affairs in Italy Qualitative Discrimination against women in the political sphere (in party headquarters, associations, etc.) POL 18 Percentage of women elected in the Local Entities Ministry of Internal Affairs in Italy Qualitative Discrimination against women in the political sphere (in party headquarters, association, etc.) POL 19 Percentage of women within Trade Unions secretaries Trade Unions 196

13 Political and Citizenship dimension Perceptions and Expectations Qualitative Discrimination against women in the political sphere POL 20 - Percentage of women within the parties executive committees - In the Italy context data exist but they are not published. - In the Swedish context there are published data in ULF, National Survey of Living Conditions. Impact on policy level s: POL 16/ 17/ 18/ 19/ 20 This last group of indicators focuses on discrimination processes against women in the political sphere examining their participation in different institutions. Exclusion processes in this dimension could be tackled by ensuring a higher participation of women in decision-making processes. 197