Meaningful democracy requires the meaningful participation of youth.
Young people, although often well-placed to help tackle the challenges – including poverty, discrimination, barriers to education and limited employment opportunities – frequently face limited access to meaningfully participate in democratic action.
There are several barriers that created these limitations, but these can be resolved, by breaking down the fundamental issues and rebuilding a healthy, engaging political sphere for youth involvement.
The concept of youth participation is a warped and narrow scope, which only sheds the barest of light on their role in a democratic life.
Educational and political institutions often take a traditional, myopic stance on youth involvement, as young people are seen as the next generation of decision-makers as opposed to the present generation of thinkers and doers.
Young people have internalised this antique rationale, and often have limited views of their own capabilities, queries and opinions. The first and most important barrier to youth participation, is the idea of youth participation itself.
It’s all about perception
The scope of traditional participation needs to be widened. A major obstacle lies in the misunderstanding between what young people and what political institutions view as participation.
We need to expand the conventional forms of democratic and participatory action to give the youth a more in-depth understanding of their power, their agency and the far-reaching effects their involvement could have.
The idea that voting during elections equates to democratic participation is a widespread misconception among them.
According to elections.org, a mere 300 000 women between the ages of 18-19 are registered to vote, with the male category showing a dismal 247 000 for the same age bracket.
Thankfully, this figure increases tenfold when we hit the 20-29 year age bracket, with an average of 3 million registered voters for females, and 2.7 million for males.
Democratic participation is not only about being a registered voter, but that’s where it starts. Showing interest in the nation’s political landscape and casting a vote to make a difference, is a step in the right direction.
As for the youth who are too young to vote, a different approach needs to be taken.
Which brings me to my second barrier to participation: platforms of engagement. According to Merriam Webster, the youth is defined as people between the ages of 15-25 years.
Now, although the people within this bracket all share one common trait (youth), they are vastly different in terms of perception, maturity, interests and capabilities. The hormone-riddled mind of a 16-year old boy, is completely different from that of a 24-year old college graduate, or a 20-year-old female, for that matter.
Therefore, we have to develop different platforms of engagement, that are tailored to suit a specific age and gender group. If democratic participation can be made more comprehensible, welcoming and intellectually accessible, young people of all shapes and sizes would feel more comfortable getting involved and letting their voices be heard.
Creating safe spaces to engage with the youth will go a long way in terms of democratic participation.
The third barrier, is agency. Young people often feel that their opinion does not matter. Or worse, their involvement will bear little impact on things.
People between the ages of 15-25 make up a whopping fifth of the global population. This shows just how influential their participation can be if guided and nurtured in the proper manner.
Once the barriers of agency, engagement and limitations are overcome, that is when a truer, purer form of democracy will surface.