A wakeup call for upcoming provincial, federal votes

Shocking, surprising lack of female candidates in municipal elections

Thank-you for drawing the public’s attention to the surprising lack of female representation in the upcoming municipal elections. The almost complete absence of female candidates in the Charlottetown and Summerside races is shocking. These numbers are especially disconcerting considering that females are usually represented in greater numbers at the municipal level. Municipal politics deal with issues at the neighbourhood level that have a direct impact on the lives of women and families: transportation, housing, parks and recreation, municipal services.

Municipal politics also provides a good introduction to political life. In your editorial where are our female politicians? you call on women’s organizations to do some head scratching and soul searching. I would submit that we all as a community need to do some soul searching over these deplorable numbers.

There has been a lot of research done on this topic by national groups like Equal Voice. Some of the frequently cited barriers to women’s political participation are lack of political connections, feeling like they don’t have the time, not having the money, fear of public criticism, and general political disengagement. When I look at some of the women I know, especially those with children, I can definitely attest to the fact they are very busy. Despite the long struggle women have had to achieve gender parity, research shows that working — women still do a disproportionate amount of household chores and care giving.

Yet, we still see a growing number of women enter demanding fields such as law and medicine. So, what is it about politics that is particularly prohibitive to women’s participation? Some have argued that without sufficient role models, many women just don’t feel like they truly belong. Does the fact that Cornwall has had Irene Dawson, a longstanding champion for women in government, on council encourage other women to run? I don’t know but the question is worth exploring.

Last week I had an opportunity to read an online discussion that asked the question, why were so few women interested in running in the upcoming municipal elections? The answers did not shock me, but they nevertheless did surprise me. The two reasons most often mentioned were lack of finances, and not wanting to be subjected to public criticism or be “under the lens” of public scrutiny. If these are indeed the two biggest reasons that keep women from running than we need to use this information to plan for next year’s 2015 elections.

However, there is only so much that organizations can do to encourage women to run.

Yes, they can run campaign schools and teach women the skills they need, but most importantly women have to want to run, and they have to see political participation as a fundamental part of women’s equality and something that has a direct bearing on their position in society.

I just finished reading the anthology A Bold Vision, and the chapter by Libby Burnham, a pioneer in law and politics, struck me as particularly relevant to what is happening here on P.E.I.. In it she reminds us that change is not something that just ‘happens” but is something that we fight for and sacrifice for so that our future generations are in a better position. Miss Burnham writes, “At this snail’s pace of progress, women won’t make up half the House until your great-great granddaughters are grown women.” It’s too late now to recruit more women for the municipal elections, but perhaps this is the early wakeup call we need to prepare for the upcoming provincial and federal elections. It is time for some bold new women to come forward.