Written by Hannah Gunn, BA (Hons) Education and Politics and International Relations.
Introduced by Catherine Eschle: this is the first in a series of blog posts by recent Politics graduates who took the class L2421 Feminism and Politics in the spring of 2021. Students were asked to pick a recent political event or issue and explore how it might be illuminated by feminist academic literature. They also had to write in an appropriately accessible and engaging style. As you will see from the small sample we publish here, some students made this challenging task look easy, and showed considerable 'feminist curiosity' and independence of mind in their analyses. And all this despite teaching and learning being online-only in the context of the continuing COVID-19 lockdown. I hope you find these posts an enjoyable and instructive read. While later contributions range from the Myanmar protests to the feminist case for a UK republic, and from Jackie Weaver to Princess Latifa, we open with two posts on last year’s ground-breaking election of Kamala Harris as US Vice President - both of which complicate straightforwardly celebratory accounts.
On the 20th January 2021, Kamala Harris made ‘herstory’ as she was sworn in as the 49th Vice President of the United States (US). The election of Kamala Harris can be hailed as a progressive step for feminism for many reasons: not only is Harris the first woman serving in this position, but she is also the first child of immigrants, the first South-Asian American, the first Black woman, and the first woman of colour to serve as Vice President (VP). Harris is also the first VP in an interracial marriage which also makes her husband, Doug Emhoff, America’s first second gentlemen. But despite being a woman of many ‘firsts’, Harris as a political representative for women of colour (WOC) and the Black and Asian community has faced much scepticism due to her questionable record as California’s attorney general and prosecutor.
‘Today We Rise’, Girl Up United Nations Foundation, (2021), Source: Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTU_YbsKWiU
This powerful video is a clear depiction of why political representation matters. On my first viewing I was taken aback by the symbolic nature of Kamala Harris’ inauguration and what it means for girls all over the world of different nationalities and ethnicities; that seeing really is believing. Feminist scholars have suggested the presence of high-profile women representatives positively affects younger women’s assumptions that they will mobilise to become involved in politics, either due to increased discourse surrounding the women representative or because it will encourage discussion of politics more generally between women of all ages and different social categories.[1] This can be recognised as the role model effect which stresses how important it is for women of different races, classes, sexualities, religions, and ages to be included in US political institutions, thus removing power from the hands of white, male elites, while mobilising younger women to become involved in politics.
‘That looks like me! Young
girl is ecstatic she resembles VP-elect Kamala Harris’, Good Morning America,
(2020), Source: Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5SHxuGKOVg&feature=emb_title
Allowing young girls and women to identify with the rising number of WOC in power not only makes them more politically aware, but creates shifting demographics of institutions where representatives more accurately reflect the people they serve. Feminist political theorist Anne Phillips argues for a politics of presence, where only women and ethnic minorities must be present in political institutions to construct their interests throughout the political process and reach political equality.[2] This highlights the need for a diverse representative body to allow for a chance of constructing interests in a more open-ended way.
 |
| Ritaco,
C. (24 June 2020) Descriptive vs. Substantive Representation Source: https://feministmajority.org/representation-matters-an-intersectional-analysis-of-whats-at-stake-for-women-in-politics-in-2020/ |
Hanna Pitkin, writing in 1967, categorised political representation and helped to establish the distinction between descriptive and substantive representation. Descriptive representation refers to when representatives share certain characteristics with groups such as race, sex, ethnicity, and/or class. Substantive representation instead places less emphasis on the physical features of the representative and is more orientated around the real-world policies that the representative prioritises. For Kamala Harris, this is where things get complicated.
Harris is a clear example of descriptive representation in that as VP she addresses the gap between WOC throughout the general population and those in political representation. But descriptive representation“is no guarantee that the diversity of women’s voices will be heard or acted upon”.[3] WOC candidates are more marginalised than their white counterparts as they are not only limited by sexism, but also racial stereotyping, and increased public scrutiny. Kimberlé Crenshaw helps to explain this as she coined the term ‘intersectionality’ as a way of recognising “the interaction of racism and patriarchy” and rejecting the idea they are mutually exclusive categories of experience.[4] It becomes clear how WOC are part of overlapping systems of oppression in all aspects of life, but particularly in this instance, through political representation. Thus WOC candidates face a “double-barrier” of race and gender and they are also often involved in more negative media coverage than their white counterparts.[5] Race and class divisions mean descriptive representation favours the presence of “white, middle-class, elite women”.[6]
Moreover, even if a representative shares characteristics with certain groups of the population, this does not necessarily translate into substantive representation of those groups. In this vein, Kamala Harris’ suitability as an advocate for WOC has come under scrutiny due to the policies and actions she took as an attorney general and prosecutor in California. After consistently referring to herself as the ‘top cop’ of California and having a recent associated #Copmala hashtag on twitter, digging deeper into Harris’ previous record it becomes clear much of the Black community do not stand with Harris as a VP. This is especially true in light of the Black Lives Matter protests where her ‘top cop’ identity undermines central BLM objectives to ‘defund the police’ because of police brutality on the Black community. Harris passed a truancy law in 2011 which made it a criminal offence for children to miss more than 10 percent of school throughout the year, and if this were the case, parents could be fined or put in prison.
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| Buena Park police officers Luis Garcia (left) and James Woo escort Peoples, 33, to their patrol car on April 18, 2013. She was handcuffed and under arrest. Credit: Bruce Chambers/SCNG/ZUMA. Source: https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/kamala-harris-truancy-arrests-2020-progressive-prosecutor_n_5c995789e4b0f7bfa1b57d2e?ri18n=true |
This had a profound effect
on Black mothers like Cheree Peoples, above, who was arrested because her daughter Shayla missed 20 days of school. Shayla suffers from a genetic illness, which meant she could often not attend school due to
experiencing excruciating pain or being hospitalised. Peoples spent two years going through the
judicial system before the charges were removed, time which she missed out on spending
with her children. Harris also approved laws which denied gender-affirming
surgeries to transgender prisoners and during her role as senator voted twice in favour of
the Hyde Amendment,
which rejects government funding for abortion except in situations of rape and
incest. These policies undoubtedly had a profound effect on WOC who do not have
available access to healthcare that they need, and in the instance of abortion
ultimately took away many women’s right to choose.
So, when you dig beneath
the surface, is Harris’ election a progressive step for feminism? Substantive
representation forces us to place less attention on the identity of
representatives and more on the policies they prioritise when those representatives
are in positions of power. Critiquing Phillips’s argument, substantive
representation helps to understand that although a representative is embodied
in a particular way, this does not mean they are inclined to act in the
interests of those they share characteristics with. We have also seen this in
the UK where Home Secretary Priti Patel voted against banning pregnant
women from imprisonment in immigration jails and against general laws to
promote equality.
Harris has transformed her
views in recent years to become more ‘feminism-friendly’. She has expressed her regrets
about imprisonments due to truancy policies and changed her stance on the
Hyde Amendment, becoming a key actor to get the law abolished. During her time
as a senator, Harris also supported various bills concerning racial equality and support
for women, and as VP Harris has pledged to break down
barriers that working class families, the LGBTQ+ community, and WOC face. But this
does not shift focus from the damage that has been done in the past and the
effect that past pervasive laws have had on many women in the US, which I am sure will
not be forgotten.
It is imperative that we
do not reduce our political representatives to mere symbols who are able to
escape accountability simply because they share certain characteristics which
place all focus on an individual’s gender, race, class, and/or sexuality, and
assume they will act in a certain way because of this. Although a diverse political
body must continue to expand throughout the US, there should be a renewed focus
on policy to ensure elected representatives are hearing the voices of those
they represent and are bringing these issues into the political sphere. This
may perhaps be perceived as descriptive representation leading to
substantive representation. Without such a process of policy change, although institutions may look diverse from
the outside, there will be little positive effect on the real
lives of women in the US. Being a woman of many ‘firsts’ is a memorable and momentous
moment for Harris, women, and girls all over the world, which should not be downplayed. We may well be on our way to witnessing the first ever female US President.
But as Barlow and Johnson recognise, “the real work extends beyond the elections” (p.4).[7] For meaningful change to happen, we must hold our political representatives to
account.
Now click here to read our second blog post on VP Kamala Harris and political representation, from Lucy McGhee
References
[1] Childs, S. and Lovenduski, J. (2013) ‘Political Representation’, in Waylen, G. et al. (eds.) The Oxford Handbook of Gender and Politics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp.1-27.
[2] Phillips, A. (1995) The Politics of Presence. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
[3] Dolan, J., Deckham, M.M. and Swers, M.L. (2019) Women and Politics: Paths to Power and Political Influence. 4th Edition. London: Rowman & Littlefield, p.245
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