More women are needed in politics
Federal political parties are still racing to fill vacant candidate nominations in ridings across the country. One thing is certain, all parties need to focus on recruiting more women, especially in their winnable ridings. Women make up just over half of Canada’s population, but we don’t see anything close to a proportionate reflection of this in the 338 seats in the House of Commons. In fact, it took until the last election to have 100 women sit as MPs.
It has been heartening to see that there are a few ridings (Nunavut and Peterborough, ON) where every party has a woman running. That is encouraging because too often candidates from underrepresented groups, including women, Indigenous and racialized Canadians, are nominated in non-competitive ridings.
How do the parties stack up?
- As of August 19th, the Liberals have 108 women running in this election and have stated that 50% of their new candidates are women.
- The Conservative Party of Canada has over 80 female candidates running in the election.
- As of August 24th, the NDP has nominated 153 women out of a total of 298 candidates, or 51%.
- The Green Party of Canada has nominated 71 women candidates for the upcoming election – making up 39% of their 114 overall nominated candidates.
Justin Trudeau is a self proclaimed-feminist and he does have a record to back this up. He appointed a gender-balanced cabinet when his government was first elected in 2015 and has kept that balance throughout his time as PM. He also appointed the first ever female Minister of Finance who led the pandemic response and put together a budget focused on supporting Canadians throughout the crisis. A core plank of Freeland’s budget and recovery plan is affordable childcare, which will go a long way to supporting the participation of women in the workforce.
The Conservative platform outlines taking immediate action to help Canadians recover from a recession that has hurt women and young people the most. Conservative leader Erin O’Toole wants to get people back to work by supporting the recovery of small businesses and securing opportunities for women. The COVID crisis has exposed the precarious position of so many women in the Canadian economy. Like Tudeau, O’Toole is seeking to articulate his alternative vision to encourage long-term prosperity which depends on women having the support they need to be full participants in Canada’s economy.
Jagmeet Singh has proven to be a popular leader with women, and the NDP platform articulates a number of key policy priorities that hope to build on that appeal. Namely, quality affordable childcare, honouring Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people, and advancing gender equality. Singh is also expecting his first child, so he may be more personally attuned to parents’ and family concerns throughout the election. The NDP have specific party policies requiring candidate search committees to demonstrate they’ve sought out underrepresented candidates and traditionally set a 50% target of nominated women candidates.
Work Life Balance
Deciding to run as a woman can be a tough decision. The impact of travel on family, the disproportionate childcare responsibilities facing women, misogynistic comments on social media, and other time commitments are just a few of the barriers women have to consider before putting their name on a ballot. There have been a few prominent Liberal MPs who are not seeking re-election stating that they want to spend more time with their families, including Catherine McKenna. For many mothers and women considering running for office, it isn’t just a matter of trying to balance work and life – it’s about breaking down barriers for more women to follow.
What do women want?
Not only should more women be running and contributing to Canadian politics, their voices and priorities should be reflected in policy proposals and election narratives. Our friends at Abacus Data released polling data looking at what men and women are prioritizing during this election. While the cost of living tops the list for both men and women, more women say it is a top five issue than men (64% vs. 59%). The same is true for health care, the environment and climate change. Men are more likely than women to say government spending, deficits and taxes are in their top five issues.
”This difference, and many of the other differences we see between men and women are not surprising, and in fact look very similar to numbers we saw just before the federal election in 2019. During that election we also saw women prioritizing healthcare and climate change more than men, and men more likely to prioritize taxes and government spending.” says Oksana Kishchuk from Abacus Data.
This is also telling when it comes to political parties making policy decisions and releasing their platforms. Women matter. They make up an important voter cohort and their voices and issues may be resonating more in this pandemic election. It remains to be seen which party can best connect with women and mobilize their support at the ballot box.
We can do better
If the 2021 federal election shows us how far we’ve come, it also shows us how far we still have to go to ensure that women are part of the decision making process at all levels of government. As most major political parties across Canada strive to achieve more diversity within their ranks, it’s long past time to see more women representing their communities in Ottawa.
