Of soccer and ballet - Statement

Growing apart

You don’t have to look further than our generation growing up to see we are heading for a divided future: the more developed and liberal our societies become, the more men and women seem to grow apart - not just in the United States. It manifests in fewer relationships and falling fertility rates as much as in political preferences and voting behavior with young men more inclined to vote conservative while young women often vote progressive. Ideally, societies should strive for unity and balance. Not in the form of authoritarianism but by finding common ground - the compromise between “soccer and ballet”. This holds true for individual relationships just as much for society as a whole. In political terms, these compromises would ensure a balance between progressive and conservative forces and overall stability of a system. 

The reality is different: there is no balance in politics, because women are underrepresented. Yes, we’ve come a long way - from Portugal being the last EU member state to introduce universal suffrage in 1974 to women today holding 33% of parliamentary seats across Europe up by 5% compared to 2014. Slovenia mandates at least 35% of electoral lists for each gender, usually resulting in 65% of lists being male, but even in countries who require parity, influential positions are often held by men. Whether it is the German social-democratic party dominated by men or member states unwilling to nominate a female and male candidate for European Commission positions - achieving balance is technically possible but politically challenging.

This has a real effect on political agendas. Of course, they are in part determined by external factors, but they are just as much influenced by who is and, more importantly, how much any group can contribute to developing these agendas. “Security” can mean spending on the military or constructing affordable housing. “Economic perspective” can mean a bustling startup scene or equal pay and the possibilities for working and having children. No individual should be classed as a soccer player or ballerina just as no political agenda should be dominated by one of these topics only. The challenge is to find the balance between both.

Practice what you preach

50% is hard - even if you want. Politics and political parties still fail for a myriad of reasons to not only underline the importance of women in politics, but to also create the conditions for women to contribute in a meaningful way, to take responsibility and to provide the safe spaces that are essential when holding any position with public exposure. 

Volt is no exception to the rule. Our leadership positions are always tandems of a woman and a man, but in practice this often means that the female post remains vacant. Out of our over 30000 members across Europe, only about 25% are women. And even though we undertake great projects, such as Volt Germany’s political inclusivity initiative that saw Nela Riehl going from being an elementary school teacher to getting elected into the European Parliament and becoming chair of the European Parliament’s Commission for Culture and Education - we must do more.

Volt remains a young movement, built on the idea of getting more citizens of all backgrounds into politics. We are very much still a blank canvas, framed by our values of working together across borders and divides to address the principal challenges by being united. It is up to our members to define our priorities and agendas and we need the voices of women to ensure our canvas doesn’t turn into a soccer pitch likely to be dominated by elbows and fouls and an environment that also led Sigrid Kaag to not continue her political work.