[pp.int.general] Women in piracy

[Ole Husgaard]

You have some good points here. It is my impression that in the two
largest pirate parties (Sweden and Germany) the women are more active
and have more leading positions than the men, if we compare to the
gender distribution of the members.

Maybe it is because women are a bit more cautious than men when it comes
to politics. Many men become members immediately, while it is not
unusual for women to observe and ask questions for months before
becoming members. But when women get involved in party work, they are
generally more persistent and active than the average man.

Quick growth may explain why we have such a biased gender distribution
among our members. In Denmark the Pirate Party had very slow growth
during the first year, and an almost equal gender representation in this
period. Then some local events gave a lot of new members, and now only
about 5-6% of our members are women. But we still have an equal gender
representation in our party board - not because we have any rules about
it, but simply because our members voted for the candidates they wanted
to lead the party.

I think the proposed group could help with two more things:

1) Find out how to make more women join as party members.

2) Debunk the impression you get by looking at member gender
representation that the pirate parties are completely male-dominated. It
is my impression that because the women are more active than the men in
many parties the gender bias among active members is a lot less.

Best Regards,

Ole Husgaard.