Everyday Violence: Narratives from Ethnic Women Politicians in Aotearoa, NZ

• In Event: Intersectionality and Violence in Politics

Abstract

Evidence internationally points to the particular vulnerability of racialized minority women politicians to violence, abuse, and discrimination in public life in western liberal democracies compared with their male (both European and coloured) and non-coloured/European female counterparts (Amnesty International, 2018; Southern and Harmer, 2021). Their disproportionately acute experiences are broadly acknowledged as a wider reflection of societal racism and misogyny aimed especially at women who embody intersectional race/gender identities.
Although undoubtedly relevant, the overwhelming focus on gender political violence as the extraordinary reactions of recalcitrant individual or social groups (such as, white supremacists) eclipses detailed scrutiny of the structured role of democratic political systems within which minority women stand for elections and practice political leadership. It also overlooks the – sometimes tense – relationships that minority women politicians have with the ethnic communities they identify as being part of, and how they balance some of the more conservative cultural tendencies along with the expectations of their own party and constituents. Together, these normative political and cultural systems have the potential to augment ‘everyday’ political violence.
Drawing on the findings of an ongoing study of Ethnic Women Politicians (EWP) in Aotearoa New Zealand – a term used to describe minorities from the Asian, African, Latin American and Middle- Eastern regions – this presentation focuses on the micropolitics of ‘everyday’ violence ingrained in the normative structures, processes and relationships of democratic and minority politics. Specifically, it examines two ‘everyday spheres’: first, political systems, particularly the organization of political parties, intra-party rules, ideologies, and structures; and second, cultural systems, including the expectations around tradition and gender roles, in creating everyday contexts of vulnerability to violence for minority women politicians.

Authors

• Rachel Simon-Kumar, The University of Auckland

• Priya Kurian, University of Waikato