When being second was a first
Alexa McDonough might have been amused to see the spirited debate that erupted on social media after news of her death was announced over the weekend.
It all revolved around which trails McDonough blazed for women in positions of political leadership in Canada — could the former leader of the NDP really be described as a “first” in that league?
That may be beside the point. McDonough’s main achievement, at least at the national level, could well lie in her 1995 victory as the second woman to be elected to lead a federal political party. In what was definitely a break from the past and still-current tradition, the New Democrats replaced one woman leader — Audrey McLaughlin — with another one, McDonough.
Incredibly, that remains a rare accomplishment in politics at many levels. “We tried that once” continues to be a real thing with female political leadership, even now, about three decades since two of Canada’s major national parties experimented with women in charge.
Kim Campbell is still the one and only woman who was elected to the leadership of the federal Conservatives; the federal Liberals have yet to choose a woman leader. In the United States, Hillary Clinton’s experience appeared to scare the Democrats away from another woman at the helm for the 2020 contest and perhaps well into the future, too.
In short, in the 21st century, the challenge for women isn’t getting the big jobs — it’s keeping them there.
This phenomenon is probably at the front of my mind right now because I recently read a review copy of Kate Graham’s new book, “No Second Chances,” which explores a bizarre reality in Canada.
Here it is: Only 13 women have led governments in this country, and not one was re-elected. That’s correct. Not one.
“There are concerning similarities in their stories,” the book jacket states. “Women tend to reach the top only in challenging political circumstances; they last in the top job for about half as long as men do; and, when they run for re-election, they lose.”
Graham’s book, due out this spring, is based on a podcast she hosted, featuring interviews with all 13 — from Campbell to B.C.’s Christy Clark to Kathleen Wynne in Ontario. Graham is a former provincial candidate herself, who ran unsuccessfully in London, Ont., during the 2018 election, when Wynne was trying to get re-elected, and later ran to succeed her as Liberal leader.
I remember being at the 1995 leadership convention in Ottawa when McDonough was chosen and I recall my own surprise that the NDP would replace one woman with another one. This was just a couple of years after the 1993 federal election that featured two women leaders: McLaughlin and Campbell.
Both parties led by women failed to win even official party status in the Commons — the mighty Conservatives were reduced to just two seats, and the New Democrats won nine. Coincidence? Maybe, but there was lots of talk back then about whether either party would have fared better under male leaders.
Many women have been coming forward since McDonough’s passing over the weekend to talk about the ways in which she encouraged others to see politics as a world that was open to them.
The best story, though, may have come from Megan Leslie, the former NDP MP from Halifax, who spoke on CBC’s “Sunday Magazine” about how she went to McDonough for advice after a colleague made a casually sexist remark.
McDonough told her to “suck it up” — that this was normal in the rough and tumble world of politics. Many of us who were around in the 1980s and 1990s remember getting that kind of advice, and possibly even dispensing it, too. That’s what happens after you break into a world as an outsider: you learn the rules, stay quiet and wait for critical mass of others to make things better.
Leslie spoke of how McDonough came to her much later, after leaving Ottawa, to say she regretted that counsel. Progress for women in politics, McDonough realized, depends not in being a novelty, but about changing ideas — even your own ideas — about how the system works.
I like to think McDonough would be most proud not just of when she came first, but what she represented in terms of succession for women leaders. The goalposts have shifted since all those “firsts” of the 20th century, from getting women into the top jobs, to getting used to them being there.
McDonough helped the NDP crack that “tried it once” barrier, showing that it is possible for women in top jobs to be more than a temporary novelty. In a country that still isn’t that great at giving women second chances in the top spots, that’s a legacy achievement on its own.
The goalposts have shifted since all those “firsts” of the 20th century, from getting women into the top jobs, to getting used to them being there