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September 18, 2012
Published in VitaminW on Mon September 17, 2012
Perched at the top of US weather maps — often as a blurry mass of swirling cold air — Canada is today a source of warm good news for women’s political participation. As of last week, governments in the provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, Quebec, and Newfoundland, as well as Canada’s far northern territory of Nunavut, are led by women. Crucial opposition parties in BC, Alberta, Ontario, and Prince Edward Island plus the Yukon territory feature women at their helm. Given that Canada’s land mass is divided among ten provinces and three territories, these numbers roughly equate to twenty US state governors – or far more than the half-dozen now holding office – and twenty women in top positions in parties that lost the race for state governor.
At one level, it is difficult to understand why the figures would diverge so dramatically. Organizations seeking to elect more women have long been active in both countries, particularly since the early 1970s. The US and Canada share a common institutional starting point in the British political system. The two countries use similar single member plurality voting systems.