Thirty years after Polytechnique murders, women in power face perpetual fight

MONTREAL – Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante is the highest-ranking official at city hall, but some men still talk down to her.

She is frequently secondguessed when she makes decisions. And there is an expectation of absolute perfection that means any misstep is severely scrutinized.

Casual sexism comes with the uncharted territory of being the first woman to serve as this city’s mayor.

Then there is the hate mail. “I get a lot of ‘You bitch. … Go away, you’re doing a bad job,’ that type of thing,” Plante said. “Recently I received a letter that was clearly a misogynist attack on me. It was the kind of thing like, ‘It’s up to men to decide, women who don’t listen should be killed.’ ”

Although she has a zero-tolerance policy for threats, Plante, in a recent interview, started to say she feels sorry for people who hide behind their keyboard spewing bile online.

Then she abruptly stopped herself.

“I’m almost minimizing or normalizing the level of violence that I’m getting. Isn’t that crazy? Oh my God. I’m hearing myself and I hate it,” she said.

“It’s awful. You get used to it. I have to continue to function, right? But it’s not OK!”

Thirty years ago Friday, a gunman stormed into École Polytechnique. Denouncing feminists and separating the women from the men in the classrooms of the engineering school, he killed 14 bright, young women. The shooter, who took his own life, left a hit list of high-profile women he wanted to target: politicians, city councillors and feminist pioneers.

The Polytechnique shooting was — and is — a reminder of how far women have come, how far they still have to go and the dangers of taking progress for granted. Dec. 6 has become an important occasion to call out violence against women, in all its forms.

But examining the experiences of women in positions of power is another telling barometer. And unfortunately, double standards and putting up with vile online attacks are among the challenges female leaders face in 2019.

Montreal has its first female mayor, there is gender parity on the executive committee and a majority of city councillors are women. There has been parity in the federal cabinet since 2015. Quebec elected its first female premier, Pauline Marois, in 2012.

Kim Campbell, who became Canada’s first female prime minister in 1993, has shattered many glass ceilings. She became Canada’s first female justice minister shortly after the Polytechnique shooting, and undertook reforms of gun control and sexual assault laws in response.

“I’m one of three women who has held the justice portfolio, I’m the only woman who has held the defence portfolio. I’m the only woman who has been prime minister,” she said in a recent interview. “And I take no pride in that. It’s nice to be the first, but better to be the 10th.”

Reflecting on the barriers she has broken, Campbell said the sexism she has encountered has been less about being denied opportunities and more about being judged harshly or denied credit.

“Sexism is not people saying, ‘Oh, we don’t like women.’ Because most sexists will walk over hot coals before ever admitting that they are sexist. What it is, is never giving you the benefit of the doubt. The assumption is you don’t belong there, you’re an interloper. So any sign that you’re not perfect: ‘Aha, you see?’ ” she said. “There is a complete double standard in terms of your accountability and how you are treated.”

The nadir was the leadership race when Campbell emerged as the favourite, with the backing of more than half the Progressive Conservative caucus. But the metaphor for the contest was not the classic horse race, with Campbell out front; it became the tortoise and the hare, with Campbell cast as the undeserving “jerk,” taking victory for granted.

“That’s what sexism looks like,” she said. “It’s not that you might genuinely be well suited to do this, and have earned the respect of your colleagues — there has to be a catch.”

The Conservatives lost the 1993 election badly and Campbell took the blame. But what she resents is that some people try to discount her tenure because it was brief.