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Discrimination Against Female Officials We live in the 21st century and we have made remarkable progress however it is saddening that women still face discrimination in many professions

Sociology

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Discrimination Against Female Officials We live in the 21st century and we have made remarkable progress however it is saddening that women still face discrimination in many professions. For female officials, they continue to remain in the shadows in decision and policy-making at different levels in government. In the first world conference by the United Nations that was held in Mexico City, the international community reminded all member nations that discrimination against women continued to be a recurrent problem, despite governments putting in place strategies that will help promote equal participation of women (Krook, 2020). Though there has been an increased focus on women decision-making priorities are left for men. For instance, in 1975 women parliamentarians remained at 10.9 percent worldwide and a decade later there was a slight increase to 11.9 percent (Krook, 2020). Viewing such figures demonstrates that nations are not yet ready to progress. With this in mind, this paper holds that if we want to achieve real progress in society we have to respect the rights of female officials by giving them equal representation and a say in society. The concept of democracy will only make sense when policies and legislations are decided jointly by both women and men with an equal representation of both genders in our society. Back in 1997, the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) adopted the Universal Declaration and it articulated one guiding principle that democracy would have significance in our society if it was enriched by both men and women working in tandem (Krook, 2020). From this ethos IPU was dedicated to ensuring that gender partnership continues to be the guide to our society in all activities and this means that discrimination against women should not be a topic for discussion because it is an idea that is outdated in our current society. One of the forms of discrimination against women is sexism. As Ngang and Djoyou Kamga, (2020) explains the meaning of the word sexism he highlights that sexism is a form of prejudice based on sex, especially against women. On the other hand, Plato.stanford.edu (2021) defines sexism as a form of unfair treatment against people based on their gender more so against women. For both scholars they concur that sexism affects women more than their male counterparts. For female officials, they are greatly affected by sexism because they are competing against their male counterparts whom society views as being emotionally weak. Based on one survey by Ngang and Djoyou Kamga, (2020) the duo notes how leadership positions are reserved for men and this goes against universal human rights. Discrimination against women is real because children are inheriting this restrictive culture of sexism and they end up growing with this negative mindset. Such is the damaging effects of sexism because it brainwashes society and this makes it even more difficult for women officials because they are viewed as weak and so even when they have to give directions to their subordinates they are considered as not being firm and so they lose support. What is even more saddening is the fact that male officials will unite even when they are on two opposing sides just to ensure a female official fails and such is the case even in our parliaments and this is a more severe form of sexism or what can be termed as misogny (Krook, 2020). Misogyny is present in our societies and cultures and this is what leads to high rates of discimination against women officials. As one survey conducted in five countries (UK, France, Cyprus, and US) notes a significant number of women officials suffer from gender-based discrimination at their offices especially in offices with a greater presence of male compared to female colleagues. For women officials, they have a difficult time addressing their subordinates because of the stereotype embedded in our societies culture. For millions of women, they continue to live in desperate conditions and they are always the target of attacks against their fundamental human rights because of the fact they are women and this affects our women officials more. For women officials, they experience the glass ceiling effect more and this is what affects their progress in society. For our society that is still evolving and trying to do away with all forms of discrimination against women is not doing much by taking action because even with policies and legislations in place women officials continue to suffer from implicit sexism. It is the implicit bias against women officials that hinders their progress in society. References Krook, M. (2020). Violence Against Women in Politics. Oxford University Press. Ngang, C., & Djoyou Kamga, S. (2020). Insights into Policies and Practices on the Right to Development. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. Plato.stanford.edu. (2021). Implicit Bias (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy). Plato.stanford.edu. Retrieved from https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/implicit-bias/.