FUNDAMENTAL FACTS

The Facts, Ma'am

Facts about women in politics in Canada

Canada is falling behind in women's representation.

Canada, with just 69 women in Parliament - 22.4% of MPs - now ranks 46th in the world on Inter-Parliamentary Union, "List of Women in National Parliaments." Despite enjoying economic prosperity and political stability, Canada now has fewer women in parliament than most of Europe and many other countries in the world.

Women still encounter barriers when seeking elected office:

Stereotyping and perceptions of women's roles and abilities; few women role models; media imbalances in the treatment of women politicians, family commitments; masculine political environment, failure of political parties to bolster women candidates, finances and exclusion from informal party networks.

Focus on the issue in other countries has delivered results:

Wales recently became the first jurisdiction to elect 50% women, ahead of Sweden (45%) and other Nordic countries which have long been best at electing women. Recently Rwanda topped them, however, and became the nation with the most elected women at 56.30% per cent.

To level the playing field...

Many parliaments and political parties are implementing well funded national action plans to reduce the barriers by recruiting and training women candidates, offering family friendly work environments, introducing proportional representation, electoral financing reforms, setting targets, constitutional reforms, and public awareness campaigns.

Canada has been slipping in terms of the number of women candidates running for Parliament

Falling from a high of 475 women candidates in 1993 to just 380 in the 2006 federal election.
Fortunately, this trend began to reverse itself when 445 female candidates ran in the federal election of 2008. This constituted 27.8% of all candidates - a record high in terms of the percentage of women running federally.

It can be done here:

In 2006, Equal Voice issued the Ontario Challenge asking McGuinty, Tory and Hampton to nominate more women candidates in Ontario. All three leaders stood up in the legislature and committed to running more women candidates. With their statements, the leaders sent a strong message that they want more women elected. This resulted in a 7% increase in the numbers of women elected - in just one election cycle.
Support from the leaders of political parties is crucial. The Conference Board of Canada says that the lack of CEO commitment can impede women's advancement in the workplace. The same is true for politics
Political will and commitment from party leaders makes a difference.

Women in politics can make a difference.

Polling shows that women care about different issues. The United Nations says that a critical mass of at least 30% women is needed before legislatures produce public policy representing women's concerns and before political institutions begin to change the way they do business.