It was the early 20 th century, when men were manly and women not so much. Both genders teetered on the formative decades of war, prosperity and depression that would propel a national character. During and after the Great War, the New Woman began to emerge, demanding, among other things, suffrage. Late Canadian journalist Kathleen Coleman, editor of an early 20 th century women’s page in The Toronto Mail , put it like this: “The man who stands in the path of the New Woman can be compared to an idiot trying to force back a tidal wave with a cricket bat.”
In the many decades between then and now, there have been innumerable idiots, each one wielding his cricket bat with such bravado that merely swinging it has become a cultural practice often divorced from deliberation. Consider how entrenched gender roles are, how unshakable electoral structures have become and how constant the adversarial nature of Parliamentary discourse is, and it becomes difficult not just to follow the bat from paddle to handle, but harder still to find the hands that swing it.
And yet, the wave persists.
It rolled right through Squamish earlier this month, soaking the Adventure Centre with almost 100 women from all age groups, enough to take up every seat in the theatre and spill over onto the floor. They had come to hear businesswoman Barbara Stegemann expound on women in leadership, and there was wine and cheese to get things going.
“The whole goal is to get women to participate in politics and policy and different aspects of the community,” says Squamish Councillor and co-organizer Patricia Heintzman, “whether its non-profit or whatever — just to tap into that resource of smart, energetic women out there and also to do something fun.”
With municipal elections just around the corner, the timing seemed telling, but Heintzman says that was just a coincidence. At the same time, she would love to see more women on the hustings, as would co-organizer Councillor Corinne Lonsdale.
“Technically speaking, women have so much more opportunity then they used to,” says Heintzman, adding that problem is more an issue of getting women to run, to overcome whatever hurdles lie between them and their nomination papers.
According to numbers crunched in 2002 by the Women’s Campaign School, local politics are run by men in numbers that in no way reflect the actual composition of the Canadian public, which, then was about 30 million, over half of which were women. British Columbia had 72 female mayors, compared to 281 male. As for councillors, there were 326 women to 850 men. Nationally, there were 535 female mayors; men donned the sash to the tune of 3,881. The jurisdiction closest to equal gender representation was P.E.I., which had 14 female mayors, which accounted for 21.2 per cent. The Yukon faired worst, with 4.3 per cent of its mayors being female. However, The Yukon had the largest percentage of female councillors — 35.9 — while Manitoba, with 11.4, had the least.
There are a number of prominent political women in the Sea to Sky corridor. Heintzman is wrapping up her first term as a Squamish councillor, although she’s indicated she may not pursue a second stint because of affordability reasons. Lonsdale, meanwhile, has been a fixture of Squamish politics for 25 years, several of which were spent as mayor. Susan Gimse has been on the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District for seven years. In 2007, she was elected leader of the Union of British Columbia Municipalities. In Whistler, there’s Nancy Wilhelm-Morden, the lone woman on council. Provincially, there’s local MLA Joan McIntyre, who recently ascended to cabinet. And, while the federal seat is currently held by Blair Wilson, it was once the perch of Mary Collins, a Mulroney Conservative who held multiple cabinet positions, including that of Minister Responsible for the Status of Women.
But, while there may be exemplars, proportionality isn’t quite there. From Pemberton to Squamish, there are slightly more men in each community, according to the 2006 Census. But only slightly. Pemberton’s council comes closest to accurate gender representation, with two of five elected members being women. Whistler has just one female out of seven members, while Squamish has two out of seven. None of the three communities have female mayors.
Meanwhile, North Vancouver’s population is slightly over half female, as is that of West Vancouver and, more so, Vancouver itself. West Vancouver has a female mayor in Pamela Goldsmith-Jones, and there are two female councillors elected to those chambers. North Vancouver has just two women out of seven members, and Vancouver has only three of 11, by far the worst given that women outnumber men by over 12,000.
There are a number of factors at work here. On the municipal level, says Heintzman, pay equity is a big concern. In Squamish, remuneration for a councillor is $16,000, whether man or woman. But having the financial security to do the job well can often depend on wages and salaries dolled out in the unelected world.
“We still haven’t come up to being at par with workplaces wages,” says Lonsdale. “When you think about what it costs, you just can’t quit your job and sit on council. And if you get away from your job, then you’re not being paid by your employer, for the most part. So it’s more difficult financially.”
Also a problem is the inherently adversarial nature of Western politics, a dynamic that becomes more intense as you climb the government ladder to the Parliamentary spectacle of Question Period.
“Women don’t have that same egocentric personality that men do generally,” says Karin Kirkpatrick, director of the Centre for CEO Leadership at UBC. “They weren’t brought up that way to put themselves first and be ready for a fight. If you watch the political process in Canada, it’s full of conflict. Women have a different method of resolving problems, and it’s less conflict oriented. We’re more influencers. We debate, but in a polite way.”
Another major issue is family and childcare, and the higher up the government hierarchy you go, the more of a challenge that becomes. Travelling to a district hall is one thing, but making your way to Victoria or Ottawa on a regular basis is something else.
“It’s harder for a woman to divorce herself totally, or to the extent that’s required, from some of the things women have historically done in the homes with their families,” says Lonsdale. “It’s difficult. You need to have a terrific amount of support from your partner.”
Kristi Wells is a familiar face in Whistler politics. A former councillor and mayoral candidate with experience in federal campaigns, she has insights on the family issue, the solution to which could lie in technology. Is there room for video conferencing in the legislature?
“Ten years ago,” she says, “we didn’t have the technology. But we do now.”
Many women point to Canada’s voting system as another cause of the problem. A proportional representation system, used in countries like New Zealand and Australia, could help close the gender gap, they say, whereas the first-past-the-post system used in Canada only serves to reinforce it.
But, says McIntyre, that system could serve to compound family issues, especially the system that will appear on the ballot during the 2009 provincial elections. That system calls for even larger ridings.
“If you think of anybody running, like a woman, you’re going to be running a huge geographical area,” says McIntyre. “That’s an almost impossible task. I think it would discourage women. I knock myself out serving the corridor. We’ve got a three or four hour drive going from the south to the north end. I wouldn’t run again under the new system.”
Subtler changes to the system, says McIntyre, could prove helpful. Fixed election dates and Monday to Thursday sessions help women plan around their families with greater certainty, she says.
As noted by Wells, every major political party is aware of the gender representation issue. The numbers telling the story are far from obscure. Women gained the right to run for national office in 1921. Since then, there have been 3,402 female candidates in 39 general elections, with 426 victors, according to Elections Canada. In 2006, there were 64 women elected to Parliament, the second best year behind 2004, which saw 65 women head to Ottawa. Throughout this time, the Liberals and NDP have led the party pack, often fielding more female candidates and winning more ridings than other parties.
In some circles, these types of statistics engender talk of affirmative action. At a 2007 party convention, the provincial NDP passed a policy requiring women to be nominated in 30 per cent of the ridings not held by the party. Perhaps surprisingly, that move rankles many women, who fear they’ll be hamstrung by the fact that they didn’t earn their nominations.
“It’s a huge step backwards,” says McIntyre, “and it hasn’t been well received.”
“I don’t want to be put in a position because I’m female as opposed to the fact that I’m the best person for the job,” agrees Kirkpatrick. “I don’t like things that make it look like I, as a woman, need a crutch or leg up. Don’t make it affirmative action, but maybe change the way politicians have to fly back and forth to Victoria, or have some support for child care or flexibility in the way the job is set up.”
For Heintzman, much of the answer lies in education and gender role neutralization. She remembers her father consulting with her on home construction issues, while Wells will point to her early engagement in politics. You can’t go back in time, but you can make up for what’s been lost. To that end, Heintzman is thinking about another Squamish women’s event in the fall.
“I had a whole bunch of women who felt empowered,” she says. “How they’ll take that power and make changes in their own life — I definitely had some people come up to me and say so. I know a few women who are thinking about running for council, so we’ll see.”
