Inequality in the National Council: Who is left out?

Inequality in the National Council: Who is left out?

A current analysis of the Momentum institute illustrates that the composition of the National Council in Austria deviates significantly from social reality. According to vienna.at , the representation of certain groups is severely restricted. An alarming finding is that a fifth of the employed is excluded from democratic processes due to the lack of Austrian citizenship. This has direct effects on the political landscape of the country.

In the Austrian National Council, women, younger and older people are underrepresented. While younger people aged 18 and 29 make up only 3% of MPs, they represent 17% of the population. People over the age of 60 are also strongly underrepresented in the National Council with 13%, while they make up a third of the population. Women who make up 51% of the population provide only 37% of MPs. Among the members of the government, women with only 10 out of 21 members are also not adequately represented.

global contexts and challenges

The challenges of political representation are not only in the focus in Austria. Women worldwide fight for equal representation in political power centers. The current proportion of women in the National Council of Austria of 40% is relatively progressive compared to other regions of the world, if not sufficient. Historically, women were often seen as a minority, which restricted their political participation. This is explained by oeaw.ac.ac.at , where the massive differences to other continents are also pointed out.

In parliamentary representation, Africa is an example of dynamic changes: in Rwanda the proportion of women is 61%, supported by determined quotas. However, the question of a fair representation of women is complex, since visibility alone is not synonymous with power or access to resources. This not only refers to Austria, but to the global political landscape.

educational and professional backgrounds

Another crucial aspect is the level of education of the MPs in the National Council. 56% of MPs have completed a degree, while only 21% of the total population went this educational path. The number of doctoral graduates is also significantly higher, which contributes to the overrepresentation of academic professions. For the entire country, 9 MPs in the National Council and 14 have received his doctorate in the government, which is remarkable compared to the population, in which only 1% of these degrees can be shown.

In addition, the analysis shows that the National Council is strongly dominated by people in management positions: 60% in the National Council and 86% in the government, while such a qualification only constitutes 5% of the employment population. This leads to an additional overrepresentation of certain professional groups, such as farmers (8% in the National Council compared to 3% among the population) and people from military professions (2% compared to 0.2%). In contrast, technical professions, office workers and service occupations are underrepresented.

The need to make the political landscape more fairly is also emphasized by the Bundesstiftung Equality appeals. Parity laws in various federal states, such as Brandenburg and Thuringia, show that there are solutions to advance equality. But the question remains how many women are actually necessary to ensure a real representative democracy.