Gender & Politics

Food for Thought: Towards a Democratic Theory of Radical Ecofeminism
In her PhD-project, Anne-Sofie Dichman combines ethnography with political theory in the study of gender, democracy, and ecology. More specifically, Anne-Sofie examines the gendered aspects of politics by showing how democratic engagement is experienced in different ways. Anne-Sofie has conducted a one-year long immersive fieldwork with women in the gilets jaunes movement (the Yellow Jackets movement) in France and from this ethnographic study, she discusses the democratic lessons we, as political scientists, can learn from contemporary social movements more broadly understood.

Anne-Sofie Dichman is a PhD fellow at UCPH with political theory, democratic theory, feminist theory, French politics, and contemporary social movements, including the gilets jaunes (the Yellow Jackets movement), as primary fields of research. In her Ph.D.-project, Anne-Sofie combines ethnography with political theory in the study of gender,- democratic,- and ecological issues in contemporary western societies. More concretely, Anne-Sofie examines the gendered aspects of democracy by studying how democratic engagement is experienced in different ways. Anne-Sofie has conducted a one-year long immersive fieldwork with the gilets jaunes movement in France and from this ethnographic study, she discusses the democratic lessons we, as political scientists, can learn from contemporary social movements.

Bodies as Battleground: Gender Images and International Security
The research project “Bodies as Battleground: Gender Images and International Security” is devoted to furthering our knowledge of how gender, images and security are connected. It provides theory and analysis of how images represent threats and danger by showing humans in specific and gendered ways. It studies if an increase in the level of violence has implications for gender roles. The research project is identifying and examining iconic representations of masculinity and femininity during times of war.

• Principal Investigator: Professor Lene Hansen
• Read more about the project

Gendered Political Recruitment
A record share of women stood for election to Folketinget in 2019, but even though left of center parties with a larger share of women on their lists did well, the share of women in parliament did not exceed 40 percent. It never has. Since 1990 the share of women in the Danish parliament has been stable below this ‘glass ceiling’. The stability has made Denmark rattle down the world rankings from the top to a 19th place. At the municipal level, the gender inequality is even larger with only one in three a women after the 2017 election. This is particularly intriguing in the Danish case with a high level of welfare and gender equality, hence, the research question: How is the gender imbalance in Danish politics explained? In this Karina Kosiara-Pedersen collaborate with national and international colleagues. Publications include Ulrik Kjær & Karina Kosiara-Pedersen (2019) 'The hourglass pattern of women’s representation', Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties 29(3): 299-317. https://doi.org/10.1080/17457289.2018.1530678.

• Short presentation

28 September 2021 from 17:00 - 19:00:
Gendered Political Socialization

Professor Mirya Holman will present the article ‘This One’s for the Boys: How Gendered Political Socialization Limits Girls’ Political Ambition and Interest’, authored by Angela L. Bos, Jill S. Greenlee, Mirya R. Holman, Zoe M. Oxley, and J. Celeste Lay, and accepted for publication at the American Political Science Review. The paper develops and tests a new theoretical framework, gendered political socialization, which offers important insights into how children perceive gender in politics, and the consequences of these perceptions on sex differences in political interest and ambition. Based on data from 1,604 children who live in four different regions across the United States, we find that children not only perceive politics to be a male-dominated space, but with age, girls increasingly see political leadership as a “man’s world.” Simultaneously, as children grow older, they internalize gendered expectations, which direct their interests toward professions that embody the gendered traits that fit with their own sex. One result of this mismatch between women and politics is that girls express lower levels of interest and ambition in politics than do boys.