National Public Awareness Campaign

Equal Voice Launches Campaign to Elect More Women in Canada

On January 15th, 2007, Equal Voice, Canada's multi-partisan organization dedicated to electing more women, announced the launch of a National Awareness Campaign called Changing the Face of Politics.

Funded by Status of Women Canada, the goal of this 18-month campaign is to increase the number of women in elected office at all levels of government across Canada.

"Canadians have been responding positively to our call to elect more women in order to achieve a fully representative and well-functioning political system," said Equal Voice National Chair Raylene Lang-Dion. "Women are over 50% of the population, but have been stuck at the level of just 21% of Parliament for years. The same holds true in most provincial legislatures. With this campaign, we aim to set the wheels in motion to shatter the 21% ceiling once and for all."

Current statistics underline the need for dramatic improvement: Canada's international ranking on the Inter-Parliamentary Union list of women in national parliaments has slipped to 47th in the world - far lower than many less developed democracies, including Rwanda and Iraq.

Equal Voice will work with our national network of women's groups and other organizations to achieve the following Campaign objectives:

1. Meet with key media to discuss issues surrounding the lack of women in politics and raise awareness of gender bias in the media;
2. Provide direct support to women interested in politics by encouraging increased participation in Equal Voice's Getting to the Gate Online Campaign School - which is free of charge;
3. Assess and monitor the level of female participation in Canadian political parties and in political office through surveys at the federal level and in two selected provinces;
4. Promote the incorporation of gender sensitive courses in social studies programming in at least two provinces.

While proceeding with the National Public Awareness Campaign, Equal Voice chapters across Canada will continue to focus on their own initiatives to increase women's representation in politics, including the encouragement of electoral reform.

Fast Facts on Women in Federal Politics PDF

Backgrounder on Women in Canadian Politics PDF

For more information please contact:

Francoise Gagnon, Executive Director

• fgagnon@equalvoice.ca