There will be an election in the spring of 2006. The Prime Minister has announced that one will be called within 30 days of the final report of the Gomery Commission, now expected on February 1, 2006. However, will there be more women in the 39th session of Parliament than in the 38th? Currently, only 21 percent of the members in the House of Commons are women. The Bloc Quebecois has the highest number of women Members of Parliament (MPs), followed by the NDP, the Liberals and the Conservatives. However, the numbers for all political parties are dismal and certainly fail to provide the threshold necessary for the agenda of the House of Commons to reflect the 50 percent of the population who are women in this country. If I were to forecast whether there will be significantly more women in the 39th Parliament, it would be an emphatic no. I have not seen the fundamental culture change necessary for women to run, and win, in significantly higher numbers.
My pessimism has been confirmed by two recent conversations with women who were considering running in the next federal election. In both cases their children were of school age, and concern for the physical and mental well being of the children as well as the woman's need to be with them, led to their decision not to run. Societal expectations are that women will always be there for their children and this makes a decision to enter federal politics difficult. Politics at the federal level is not friendly to children. For a minimum of 32 weeks every year, MPs must leave their children in the riding and return to work in Ottawa from Monday until Friday. The workday often begins at 7:30 am, and if the evening ends at 7:30 pm, it has been a short day. When the MP returns to their constituency on the weekend, they have office hours and constituency events which take up the greater portion of the weekend. The demands of the job on children and family are very high. Some MPs make the decision to move their young families to Ottawa, but then constituents complain that they never see their MP. It is also hard for children to spend part of the year in one place and the rest in another. It not only interferes with their schooling but also their after school activities.
Since juggling children and family responsibilities is a major obstacle to women deciding to enter politics, some minor changes could bring about a culture change to make it easier for women to enter politics. For example, provide five spaces at the day care centre on Parliament Hill to be used by MP's on a casual basis. The MP could chose times for their child to visit and the space could be made available. This would allow for the ongoing bonding so necessary for both the MP and the child. The MP could choose to limit their workload as much as possible during the visit so that quality time could be spent with their child. Also, a classroom setting could be made available for school aged children with a professionally trained teacher who could keep the child up to date on their school work during the week away. These are relatively inexpensive changes which could make life on the hill easier for both parents and children.
But they are not the only barriers to women entering federal politics. Before one becomes an elected Member of Parliament it is necessary to secure a political party nomination. The upcoming election will be a small departure from the norm as each political party in the House of Commons in this 38th Parliament has protected the nominations of the incumbent MPs. This was an unusual move in reaction to the minority Government. Because it is a minority government all parties need their members in attendance at all times. Members, fearing an early election call, wanted to spend as much time in their constituencies as possible. The trade off was found in the protection of their party nomination. As a result of present polling data it would appear that a maximum of 50 seats will go from one party to another and the number could be much smaller then this. About 20 incumbents have indicated they are not running again so these seats are perhaps winnable . However, the vast majority of winnable seats in any of the political parties are simply not open for new candidates, be they women or men. Even in those constituencies where openings occur there is the financial barrier faced by so many women.
Nomination battles are expensive. In some cases where the constituency is considered an easily winnable seat for one party then the nomination battle for that party is often more expensive than the election campaign. While there are clear rules on how much money can be spent in an election campaign, no limitations are placed by most parties on the nomination meeting. Some have cost as much as $100,000. Most women are not in a position to raise this kind of money either from corporations or from friends and supporters. Women have, for the most part, spent their working lives in the caring professions - teaching, social work and nursing. This is not work which makes the person affluent nor does it make their colleagues affluent. This is changing as more women become lawyers, doctors and accountants but that shift is still not on the radar screen for politicians for the most part. Women are also not particularly experienced in asking for money and many women are not experienced at giving to political campaigns. If women are to find themselves on a level playing field with respect to raising money the culture is going to have to change. Women candidates are going to have to ask for donations, and women are going to have to give if they are serious about having their gender better represented in Parliament.
The very nature of politics is not particularly women friendly. Women for the most part are not confrontational. Male politicians in my experience see Question Period as a game of one upmanship. Although some women become better at playing the role of questioner and responder, most that I speak with find it unnecessary and uninteresting. However, it is an important part of the parliamentary process. To ask questions and never have an answer for many women is just frustrating. They need to learn to play the game and to remember that it is Question Period and not Answer Period. The reality is they will rarely get an answer; however, by asking the question and keeping the issue in front of government and the media, they keep the pressure on for change.
Perhaps the biggest obstacle to the decision to enter politics for both genders is the question of whether or not they want to live their lives in a fish bowl. I believe that women face even more difficulties than men in this area. Rarely are men portrayed on the basis of their hair styles or hair colour, the style of their clothes, the shape of their bodies or the sound of their voice. Women are frequently open to such comment and just when I believe the culture is changing, articles about a female MP's shoes become the fodder of news coverage. Men come to Ottawa with one or two suits for the week and with one pair of shoes for Monday to Friday. A women who tried this would instantly make the worst dressed list published each year in the Hill Times, the Parliamentary newspaper. What a female MP has to say should make the newspapers, not what she is wearing. Changing the media culture to put the focus on issues and policies and not on the trivialities of someone's looks, hair colour or voice is necessary. Although women have now started coming to the defense of one another, politics is still a game being played on two different, and unequal, fields.
Given these obstacles faced by women who wish to enter politics, perhaps it is somewhat of a miracle that we have as many women involved in political life as we do. These women have chosen this role because they want to make a difference. They want to be of service to their constituents. But women still comprise a small portion of the House of Commons and that is unlikely to change in the 39th Parliament with insufficient time in the next six months for the fundamental culture change necessary for women to run, and win, in significantly higher numbers. Yet changes in the practical operations of Parliament, in media coverage and in party nomination financing could make a huge difference to the success of women in politics.
Why have these changes not yet materialized? Partly because there have not been sufficient women prepared to put themselves on the firing line. Partly because we have not been prepared to make the changes needed because there have not been sufficient women in Parliament to demand the changes. But also because, sadly, politics which was once regarded as an important profession and one worthy of respect, has been downgraded in the minds of Canadians. This is the most important issue of the day for all of us. If we do not value those who choose to serve, then Canadians, both men and women, will choose not to serve. All of us will pay the ultimate price if this occurs. Canadians need good government. They need dedicated politicians of both genders. They will only get them if they insist on quality and they value quality.