More women, more rights
I remember sitting in the back seat of my dad’s truck, driving around Saint John when I was 12. I was feeling smug because I had just correctly named the mayor, premier and prime minister: Ivan Court, Bernard Lord, Stephen Harper. It would be another 10 years before I would start questioning why politics in Canada is dominated by men and what that means for women.
Have you ever tried to get a routine Pap test without a family doctor? What about contraception? Access to abortion in Canada is a fundamental right ensured by the Charter, but battling over who is pro-choice versus anti-choice has sucked up all the political air in the country for decades at the expense of making abortion more accessible and health care more equitable.
I’m willing to bet almost every woman or LGBTQ+ person in the country has a story about inadequate reproductive and sexual health services, or knows someone who does.
Women make up 50 per cent of the population but hold just 30 per cent of the seats in the House of Commons. Only two of the country’s 12 premiers are women, and in three provinces no woman has ever held the role. It matters because women matter.
I don’t subscribe to the idea that there are “women’s issues” — all issues that impact women are issues that impact society. But some lived experiences are indeed unique to women, and the care and policies we need are often totally absent from the political conversation. It’s why we need more women at all decision-making tables.
We have front-row seats to the rapid unravelling of women’s rights in America, and it’s not difficult to see how it may influence events in Canada.
Like many women, I am completely gutted over the recent leak of a draft ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark decision that has protected access to abortion across the United States. A chamber of nine unelected people, six of them men, are poised to take away the rights of American women. The conversations that have followed show just how little many men know and care about women’s bodies.
Canadians cannot be complacent. Abortion is not enshrined in law in Canada; it could also be challenged here despite majority support for abortion rights. We need more women in politics to safeguard this critical right, and other rights central to women’s autonomy.
The good news is we might be making progress.
For the first time, the Ontario Liberals are running 50 per cent women candidates in the June election — a statistic that pales in comparison to the diverse slate of the NDP. In New Brunswick, for the first time in history, a woman is running to be leader of the Liberal party. Nova Scotia has an accomplished Black woman on the leadership ballot who, if successful, would be the first person of African descent to lead a major party in Atlantic Canada. New Brunswick and Nova Scotia have yet to see a woman in the premier’s office.
It took 50 years, but Canada finally has a path to universal $10-a-day child care. It’s no coincidence that such a program came from a government with 50 per cent women in cabinet, spearheaded by a female minister.
We need to do more to bring women in all their diversity into elected offices across the country, and keep asking all political candidates where they stand on abortion. We deserve to know if our fundamental human rights will be protected by our leaders, regardless of their gender.
Some lived experiences are indeed unique to women, and the care and policies we need are often totally absent from the political conversation