What's getting women into politics? 6 Minute English

Sam: Hello. This is 6 Minute English,

I'm Sam.

Georgina: And I'm Georgina.

Sam: How do you do feel

about politics, Georgina?

Georgina: Well, there's a lot around

at the moment!

Sam: Yes, indeed!

Georgina: One thing I would like

to see in politics, particularly

British politics, is more women

in parliament. About 34% of our MPs are

women, which is the highest it's

ever been, but it's still not close to 50%.

Sam: In order to be elected though,

you first have to 'stand', don't you?

Georgina: Yes, we use the verb

stand when you are a candidate

someone can vote for.

Sam: Women in politics is our topic today.

Before we get into it,

today's question. Which country

has the highest percentage of women

in its parliament? Is it:

A: Rwanda, B: Sweden or C: New Zealand?

What do you think, Georgina?

Georgina: I'm not sure. I know

New Zealand was one of the first

countries to allow women to vote and

they currently have a female

prime minister - but I think it's

actually an African

country. So I'm going to say Rwanda.

Sam: OK. We'll see if you're correct

at the end of the programme.

There are a number of projects in the UK

at the moment trying to get more women

interested in standing for

parliament. One of these is the campaign

'sign-up-to-stand' from an organisation

called 50:50 Parliament.

Lucrece Grehoua is someone

who has taken up that challenge and

is hoping to stand in upcoming

elections. She was a guest on

the BBC Radio programme Woman's

Hour. She wasn't always

interested in politics, though.

How does she describe it?

Lucrece Grehoua: I didn't really see myself

in the Houses of Parliament.

When we see it

on TV it looks extremely boring, politics

looks boring, especially

as a young person and so

when I saw that 50:50 Parliament

were including women and

including young women,

including a diverse range

of young women, I thought

'wow, this is really for me and it

can be for me'. So I decided

to #signuptostand. Ever since I've just

been excited at the prospect

of me standing for parliament.

Sam: So what was her original feeling

about politics?

Georgina: Boring! She thought it was

boring, particularly as a young person.

In fact she couldn't see herself

as a politician. She couldn't imagine

herself doing it.

Sam: She says that she is now excited

at the prospect of standing.

What does she mean by that?

Georgina: The 'prospect of' something

is the possibility of something.

So before, she thought it was boring,

now she's excited at the possibility that

she could be a member of parliament.

Sam: So, what was it that made

her change her mind and think

that politics wasn't so

boring after all?

Here's Lucrece Grehoua again.

Lucrece Grehoua: I think everybody

has a politician within them because

we all get anger about something

but unfortunately when we see it, it's all

jargon, it's not very... words that we can

understand. Even just as a working class

person who hasn't, you know,

been to a private school

and who's come from

a disadvantaged background and so

I realised politics is for absolutely

everybody, it's just the way that you speak

about it has to be tailored to everyone.

Sam: One of the things she didn't like

about politics was the jargon.

Georgina: Well, no one likes jargon,

do they? 'Jargon' is the very specific

language and vocabulary

relating to a particular profession.

Inside the profession people know

what it means,

but from outside it can seem very

complicated and confusing.

Sam: Lucrece said she came from

a disadvantaged background.

This means that when she was growing

up her family didn't have very much

money and that made life

and study very difficult.

Georgina: But even though, or maybe

because, she came from

a disadvantaged background she

has become interested in politics

and thinks that it can be

something for everyone, but

rather than use jargon you have to tailor

the way you speak for everyone. To 'tailor'

something is to make it fit - in

the same way that a tailor

makes clothes fit, you can

tailor your language to make it easy

for everyone to understand.

And one way to do that is to

cut out the jargon!

Sam: That's just about all we have time

for today. But before we review

the vocabulary,

it's time to get the answer to today's

quiz question. Which country

has the highest percentage

of women in its parliament? Is it:

A: Rwanda, B: Sweden or

C: New Zealand - Georgina,

what did you say?

Georgina: I made an educated

guess of Rwanda.

Sam: An educated guess and

a correct guess. Well done.

And well done to everyone else

who got that right too! According to

2019 figures, Rwanda's parliament

has over 60%

women MPs. Go Rwanda!

OK, let's remind ourselves

of today's vocabulary.

Georgina: Of course. To 'stand' is

the verb we use when someone is a

candidate in an election

- when someone stands for election

you can vote for them.

Sam: If you can see yourself as

something, it means that you

can imagine yourself doing

that thing.

Georgina: The prospect of something,

is the possibility of something,

so for example,

the prospect of becoming an MP is

something that excites Lucrece.

Sam: Something that we all hate,

except when we use it ourselves,

is jargon. Words and

language that are very specific to a

particular job and which are

difficult for people outside

that profession to understand.

Georgina: People who grow up without

enough money and without

access to education

can be said to come from

a disadvantaged background.

Sam: And finally, to tailor something is

to change it to make it suitable

for a particular purpose.

Georgina: So for example, if you want

to make politics accessible for

more people, you have

to tailor your language and

cut out the jargon.

Sam: Indeed! Well, it's time for us

to go now, but do join us again soon.

Bye for now.

Georgina: Bye!