April 8, 2015

We tell you why as a woman you need to vote

Young women frequently cast their votes across social media platforms. Who is the best and worst dressed, which hairstyle do you prefer, which man is the hottie of the year- however, voting is not something we are not well acquainted with. So why do so many young women decline the chance to vote in the general elections?

In the last general election, it was discovered that only 39% of women aged 18-25 took their time to vote, in comparison to the 50% of males from the same age category who voted. Whilst both of these statistics are incredibly low, the fact that not even half of the young women able to vote actually did is shocking.

Earlier this year, Youth Media Agency decided to try and turn this around. YMA is the home of UK Youth Media who raise the profile of over 180 media platforms, providing excellent support for young people in media. Their latest campaign was fighting for the eradication of The Sun’s infamous Page 3. This included starting a petition, a short film and getting young people involved by asking them to produce creative content explaining why there should be No More Page 3. A few months down the line, YMA are still recognizing the importance of women in society with their latest campaign, XXVOTE.

Launched on the 16th March 2015, YMA held a launch event to raise awareness of the campaign, and the word has been spread all over social media in an attempt to encourage women to register to vote, and then to actually take their vote. In order to help persuade young women to do this, a short film was produced, with a very dystopic style to it, showing young women in every day situations, and how their lives would be dramatically affected in a very negative way if they did not cast their vote. Changes included no more maternity leave, a huge rise in university fees and young people being microchipped for security reasons.

The point of the film is to show that if there were more young people- especially more young women- involved in politics and voting for the things that mattered, these changes would be the kinds of things we could prevent. You can watch the film here 

But if the film still hasn’t persuaded you, here are three reasons why you definitely should be voting in this years general election:

1) The more women there are involved in politics, the more we can help defend and stand up for womens rights. 

If we allow politics to be dominated by men, there won’t be any women to speak on behalf of the female population- and changes such as no more maternity leave could very well become a reality. We need our voices to be heard and understood, and we need strong women in politics to be listening to the needs of women all over the country.

2) Women fought for years  to get the vote- now that you have the privilege of being able to vote, don’t waste it! 

Women fought endlessly, were abused, arrested and some even died, all so that future generations of women could have the vote- if that doesn’t indicate the importance of the vote to you, what will! Many women over the world still don’t get their say, so recognise your privilege and take your vote.

3) Young people need to be heard.

You may not feel like you’re making a difference but if all young people broke out of that mentality and all used their vote, you’d be an unbreakable force. There is no one to speak for young people in politics. Your vote is your chance to decide who you think will represent you and your peers best.

The general elections are happening on the 7th May 2015 but your chance to register to vote is only until 20th April 2015. You can register here. Without your vote, you have no say in what happens to your country next. Get involved, vote now.

Written by Flo Matthews

Follow Flo on Twitter @Flomatthews_