Women in Canadian Politics: Toward Equity in Representation

Sylvie Arend is an associate professor of political science at Glendon
College, York University.

The fact that the Royal Commission on Electoral Reform and Party
Financing devotes only one of its 23 volumes to the question of
women’s representation in Canadian politics is, in itself, an example
of politicians’ sparse attention to this issue. Giving an equal
political voice to Canada’s majority population is surely a democratic
reform that merits greater attention than that.

This volume provides the general public with recent electoral results
and new survey data concerning women’s under-representation in
Canadian legislatures, particularly in the House of Commons, while
seeking explanations for the evolution of their situation in the last
decade. Readers may, however, find tedious the similarities in the
findings, recommendations, and, to some degree, approaches that are
presented in the first four of its five chapters. Perhaps, however, the
message conveyed in these chapters (which, on the whole, has changed
little since the 1970s) has to be repeated to be heard by the
commission, political parties, and politicians and to bring about the
desired reforms. A further criticism of this section is that, of all
provinces, only Ontario receives adequate consideration. Explanations
for regional variations in women’s political representation deserved a
separate chapter, one that did not ignore Quebec’s particularity.

On the positive side, those conversant with the topic will welcome two
additions to these more conventional analyses. The first considers the
role of incumbency in limiting women’s access to political
representation and offers a model to evaluate the effect of turnover
rate on the rate of increase in the number of women in the House of
Commons. New grounds for encouraging more women to run for political
offices are given. The fifth and last chapter also presents an
innovative approach in its evolutionary framework for the study of
another important hurdle to women candidates and politicians—namely,
their particularly biased treatment by the media. Although all chapters
are highly recommended to the general public and specialists, the last
is an absolute must for all practicing and aspiring journalists.