Popularity not as simple as gender

Re Is Wynne so hated because she’s a woman?, Hepburn, Jan. 11 Bob Hepburn tells us that the careers of Canadian premiers have been shortened by voter prejudices against female politicians. How did they get elected in the first place?

Somehow these very same voters manage to overcome their misogyny during municipal races — ask all the male candidates drubbed by Hazel McCallion during her lengthy and illustrious reign.

Might giving folks the governance they want have had something to do with the longevity of her career? Pav Penna, Georgetown Premier Kathleen Wynne inherited an unpopular government in 2013, yet 16 months later she managed to turn it around to win the 2014 general election despite the baggage of the Dalton McGuinty years that forced him to resign.

The history is that female premiers have been defeated either because they were elected and then ran governments that deserved to be defeated, or else they were unlucky enough to inherit a governing party that had been in power for many years and the voters felt that after a decade of a party being in power, it was time for a change. Justin Trudeau benefited from good timing in 2015 in defeating a Conservative government of 10 years.

It is quite possible that in 2014, Sandra Pupatello or another male Liberal would have lost had Wynne not been the leader, but then, Wynne benefited from former Progressive Conservative leader Tim Hudak running a terrible campaign.

I hope we have more female premiers, and particularly ones who get re-elected several times, so that we can move past such vague generalizations about sexism, where it is too complex to actually make a case for it.

Wynne broke the barrier of being the first openly gay premier in Ontario (or anywhere in Canada) — we are still hoping and waiting for other barriers to be broken. Brian Graff, Toronto