Women leaders want to encourage and inspire
Go for it!
That was the message from Kim Campbell, Canada’s first female prime minister, on Wednesday.
She, along with Ireland’s first female president, Mary Robinson, former Canadian diplomat Mary Simon and other female leaders shared their personal stories with more than 500 participants at the University of Regina’s sixth annual Inspiring Leadership Forum.
Campbell said one should never be afraid to just try.
It will be 22 years since she became the first female leader of the country, and she is surprised she is still the only woman to have held that title.
“It is discouraging because I think it is important to have that visibility,” said Campbell. “We have had more women premiers, which helps a lot.”
She hopes to inspire women to enter the political arena because that voice is missing when it comes to policy-making and decisionmaking.
“You won’t always win every argument, but things will be decided based on a rich understanding of who is affected and what it’s going to mean,” said Campbell.
“Democracy is a blunt instrument. It’s not a precision tool. And the only way to make it just and fair is to recognize its imperfections and try and to make it as rich and inclusive an experience as possible, so that whatever is decided is as close as possible to what is right and fair.”
She believes things will change as more women opt to get into politics at every level of government. “I’m trying to keep myself healthy so I can be there at the swearing-in ceremony for the next female prime minister,” said Campbell. “I’m always hopeful. I guess that’s part of my personality to be hopeful, but I am also realistic and that’s why I often speak to groups like this — to try and encourage people and try to share what I have learned about what the barriers are and what challenges there have been to try to empower women and equip them with knowledge and information.”
Robinson said it is also important for women to be confident in their leadership abilities and for others to be supportive. She said her road to success was made possible through support from the women of Ireland.
“Instead of rocking the cradle they rocked the system, because I was very unexpected as a president,” said Robinson. “I won against the system.”
She believes women who do have access to positions of leadership need to connect with the women who are working at the grassroots level.
“We need strength and solidarity of women to encourage one another and I believe younger women in particular need mentoring and encouragement,” said Robinson. “They are still not automatically as confident as young men to take responsibility to take positions. They still need to be encouraged to do that.”
Simon’s message to the women was simple — get educated and never stop learning. She encourages women to find something they are passionate about and work toward achieving that goal.
As an aboriginal person, she believes all Canadians need to work together to achieve a better understanding of the aboriginal experience in this country.
“I strongly believe there is a real lack of understanding of what aboriginal people are confronted with in Canada,” said Simon. “My parents always taught me that if you want to make change you have got to be involved.”
All three speakers continue to remain involved in creating change.
Campbell is currently overseeing the creation of the Peter Lougheed Leadership College at the University of Alberta.
Robinson, president of the Mary Robinson Foundation, is now leading the way to address climate change, and was made United Nations special envoy on climate change.
Simon has remained focused on education and recently completed her term as the chairperson of the National Committee on Inuit Education.