Children and Political Representation: The Challenge of the Gift

Political representation is a centerpiece of modern democratic societies. Having the right to influence public policies and lawmakers has been one of the most important bases particularly for the social and economic advancement of historically marginalized groups like women and minorities. Yet, in all corners of the globe, children and youth rarely wield a great deal of direct political power. This paper asks what it might mean for the third of humanity under eighteen years of age to gain genuine representation in political life. It does so from the point of view of political and Christian ethics, and builds on advances in the field of childhood studies around children’s agency, voices, rights, and citizenship. It also takes an approach that I have elsewhere called childism – a term meant in analogy to feminism, womanism, and environmentalism – that asks, not just how to extend adult rights to children, but how rights themselves should be restructured in light of children’s experiences.1 From this angle, political representation should not be grounded in the traditional adult-centric expression of autonomous interests or hegemonic struggles for power, but rather in responsiveness to lived experiences of difference, or, theologically, the welcoming of Creation’s ever new gifts.