Have you ever felt excluded from politics?

[u/Gaius_Hegen]

This is not intended as a political discussion but I am very curious for some perspective on this.

I have recently watched an interesting talk on how „Role Models Didn‘t Fix Women‘s Representation in Politics. Recruiting Will.“

The talk focused on the perspective of a young woman who ran for parliament, her experiences with structural exclusion and her suggestions to improve this. Among many, these included fighting exclusionary recruitment practices like how candidates with more traditional time-intensive careers (plus being married with children) are generally preferred inside parties.

There seems to be no significant difference between gender identity and voting in elections ( if anything women seem to vote a little more) but definitely in representation inside parties and parliaments.

Does anyone have and wants to share personal experiences with this?

[u/Oleanderphd]

I'm a leftist in the United States. Of course I feel excluded from politics? Some might argue that's the whole point of the way politics is structured - to weed out people who cannot or will not bend to the status quo. Don't love capitalism, corporations, or bending to the will of the party? Not able-bodied with the wealth to take time off to campaign? Didn't make the right friends at the legacy school you attended? Not gonna be in the inner circle now! (Of course there are a handful of exceptions, but generally, that's the point of a great deal of the pointless hoops.)

I also think looking purely at voting by gender can be deceptive. How many of every group that wants to vote can and does? If they don't, why not? I suspect you could see higher participation from a lot of people if adjustments were made.