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March 8, 2011
Getting elected is the first step for women trying to achieve equality in Canadian political houses but true change will only happen if more women are seated around the cabinet table, says Ontario’s New Democratic Leader Andrea Horwath.
Twenty-one years ago, Ontario led by example, Horwath said Monday at an NDP event marking the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day.
Eleven former Ontario NDP female cabinet ministers who served under former premier Bob Rae — the most women ever in senior Ontario political positions — joined Horwath at a breakfast to raise money to recruit more female NDP candidates.
Unlike their federal counterparts, female provincial political leaders seem to be gaining ground like never before.
Two women are leading provinces on either side of the country — British Columbia’s Christy Clark will soon be sworn in as premier and Newfoundland and Labrador’s Kathy Dunderdale recently took over from Danny Williams.
And, there are nearly a dozen others either vying to head up their own provincial parties or are already leading them.
In Alberta, the winds of change are blowing across the province.
Four of the five Alberta parties could potentially be led by women with Danielle Smith leading the Wildrose Alliance, former justice minister Alison Redford running for the Conservatives, interim leader Sue Huff with the Alberta Party and MLA Laurie Blakeman bidding for the Liberal leadership.
Federally, it is a different story. The Green Party’s Elizabeth May is the only female federal political leader.
And Kim Campbell was Canada’s one and only female prime minister but she took over from retiring Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and served less than five months — from June 25, 1993 to Nov. 4, 1993.
Women have come a long way, but there is so much further to go, said Horwath.
Young women now enjoying the fruits of decades of others struggling for voting rights, pay equity, reproductive rights and child care spaces should not be lulled into complacency, Horwath said.
“They created the world we live in today,” she said. “So we can’t forget. When we do, we forget change doesn’t come easily and we have been lulled into thinking the status quo is working fine.”
In 1990, 11 NDP women were appointed cabinet ministers — at the time the most ever in Ontario.
More women in provincial politics is not a recent phenomenon but a pattern in various degrees, said University of Toronto politics professor David Rayside.
“The more local the political environment the likelier you are to find more women,” he told the Star. “It is still true in 2011 that women are likely to bear more domestic responsibility than men, particularly when there are kids involved and they are also more expected to do that.”
Geography also plays a role. Provincial legislatures are often closer to home and less likely to meet as many days in the year as Ottawa does with those long, late sittings, Rayside added.
That has made a difference in Ontario. Nearly three years ago question period was changed to the morning instead of the afternoon to make it more family friendly, said Liberal MPP Monique Smith (Nipissing), the government house leader.
But she conceded the hours are still punishing.
“It is challenging if you have a family and you are living away from your riding for part of the week,” she said. “It isn’t the optimal lifestyle for women with children in particular but others of us who don’t have kids have stepped up to the plate.”
Provincial politics also has more domains where women traditionally dominate such as health care, children and youth services and social policy, added Rayside.
“At the federal level you have defence, foreign affairs, finance … trade and those, again, to the extent that there are prejudices even if they are reduced prejudices they would make it harder for women to break into fields at the federal level,” he said.
BY TANYA TALAGA
This story is available online at thestar.com.