Ostacoli psicosociali alla partecipazione delle donne in politica.

[Autom. eng. transl.] Although the number of women entering politics and reaching positions of power has increased in recent years, women are still under-represented in political institutions, especially in top positions. If the structural obstacles, for example the level of education and income, have become less relevant (Stokes, 2005), however a "labyrinth" of other obstacles makes women's careers more difficult than men's (Eagly & Carli, 2007). While some of these obstacles are external to women (such as the distorted attitude of the mass media), others (such as the difficulty of reconciling multiple roles performed simultaneously in the family, at work and in politics) are considered internal to women (Francescato et al ., 2008). This research aims to deepen the investigation of internal obstacles, with particular attention to those that women encounter as members of a group. To this end, this research focuses on the psychosocial processes underlying the way in which members of a disadvantaged group face their inferiority situation (injustice, identity and collective efficacy; Van Zomeren et al., 2008) and examines the significance that men and women involved in politics associate with these processes. A sample of men and women of different ideological orientation, who hold political offices at the local level, have been invited, through semi-structured interviews, to tell their political career and to reflect on the disadvantaged condition of women in politics. The perception that women in politics are discriminated is widespread in all respondents. In explaining this discrimination, however, women understand more the consequences deriving from the difficult reconciliation of roles, while men refer to stereotypical gender characteristics. The results also suggest that the obstacles faced by women in politics as members of a group derive, first of all, from the fact that, in addition to the same gender group, they simultaneously belong to different ideological groups and parties. The high salience of ideological and party identity, in fact, emphasizes the differences in values between women and hinders the development of a politicized gender identity. Secondly, the troubled process of acquiring political competence on the part of women and the fact that this competence is constantly challenged in political interaction prevent the perception of individual competence from translating into a true collective gender effectiveness.