It’s reigning men
— Judy Manning, acknowledging Persons Day on Oct. 17, 2014
Girls and women, like boys and men, deserve to have their talents nurtured. They should also be encouraged to offer their unique perspectives in public life and public policy.
Women have made great strides in many professions. But given that we make up more than half the population of this province, it’s frustrating when we still seem to be fighting our way upstream through a sea of grey suits.
That’s why governments create gender equality policies and stipulate that large projects here — oil exploration, mining, energy — have employment plans for women.
Emera’s plan for the Maritime Link, for example, says, “The parties to this agreement recognize and support the principles of diversity in employment and gender equity in the workplace.”
But how can the government expect employers to follow rules about hiring women when it doesn’t follow its own?
Newfoundland and Labrador government policy says it’s committed “to gender equality in the hiring and appointment practices for all departments, agencies, boards and commissions.”
And yet just last week that policy was flouted.
Not that the government deserves total blame for the recently appointed all-male Electoral Boundaries Commission; the NDP and the Liberals each nominated a man and the PCs put two men’s names forward — apparently no women were available.
But surely to God once the names were all in, the government could have looked at the list and said, “Gee, this doesn’t meet our own policy requirements. Let’s go back to the drawing board.”
House of Assembly Speaker Wade Verge said in approving the appointees, he kept partisan balance and the rural/urban split in mind. Premier Paul Davis also worried about the rural/urban divide. Neither of them figured gender equality mattered.
It’s not that the appointees aren’t capable of doing the work. But when elected politicians get to choose members of a commission, the electorate has a right to expect that some of them will be women. Why, we’ve been recognized as persons since 1929.
As it turns out, the very cabinet minister responsible for the Electoral Boundaries Commission is also responsible for the status of women: the unelected Judy Manning.
She called in to “Open Line” with Paddy Daly” on Feb. 20, and apart from her Tobinesque habit of asking and answering her own questions — (Manning: “Would it be desirable to have great female representation in all levels of society? Of course it would.”) — her explanation for why there are no women on the commission was downright defeatist: it’s just the way things have always been.
“Historically, who are the people who’ve been involved in politics?” Manning asked herself.
“Who are the people who, um, have actually come to the forefront? We live in a society where it’s much more conducive for men to have that experience and for men to have made those … you know, I guess, assertions of themselves in terms of leadership in our province, and in 2015, unfortunately, you know, that’s still where we’re finding ourselves in terms of the pool of candidates and whatnot.
“We just have an abundance of men who’ve been able to come forward …”
True enough.
But what a passive response from the person supposedly responsible for the advancement of women.
To recap: men have always held the leadership roles. Men have always had better access to power and are better at asserting themselves.
Manning might as well have shrugged and said, oh well, what’re you going to do?
Perhaps it has not occurred to Ms. Manning that we have such an abundance of men to come forward because the people in leadership roles don’t insist on making women a vital part of the decision-making progress.
No doubt we will continue to have an abundance of men able to come forward, particularly if the leaders with the power to change things remain content with the stale and archaic status quo.
“We must remain diligent in our efforts to ensure that gender inequities are acknowledged and addressed …”