Women remain a distinct minority in House

3 posts / 0 new

Last post

Tue, 2016-02-09 17:30

Debater

By NANCY PECKFORD

Monday, 02/08/2016

---

Excerpt:

. . . the excitement about a gender-balanced federal Cabinet has worn off some as we come to terms with the fact that women remain a distinct minority in the House. Many have expressed their dismay at the fact that there are so few women on the 28 House and joint House/Senate committees in Parliament. Some have questioned the government’s commitment to leveraging the talents of the women.

Clearly, few have done the math. While it may seems egregious, the reality is that with women comprising just 26 per cent of the House of Commons, parity on committees is nearly impossible. There are only 88 women in the House (versus 250 men). 50 of those belong to the Liberal caucus—more than half of whom are serving as Cabinet ministers or parliamentary secretaries, thereby precluding their capacity to sit on committees. The remaining Liberal women MPs are fewer than the current number of committees established. The opposition caucuses have, among them, just 38 women MPs and a limited number of seats on each committee. Ensuring there are more women serving as committee members can only happen if there are far more women elected to the House. It’s an obvious point but one that seems lost on many commentators.

This is why Equal Voice is so keen to encourage and equip thousands of more women to seek election—at all levels of government. And it’s precisely why we are preparing to do this work soon. It may seem premature, but the reality is that we will need hundreds of more women across parties to position, to seek, and secure federal nominations in the coming years if we are to achieve anything close to parity in the House of Commons, not just Cabinet. Only the NDP broke 40 per cent female candidates in the past election. As we celebrate an historic 100 years since (some) women in Canada attained the right to vote, achieving equal numbers of women and men on the ballot within the decade should be the ultimate goal.

---

Full article:

http://www.hilltimes.com/columns/2016/02/08/women-remain-a-distinct-mino...

Sun, 2016-02-28 10:34

mark_alfred

The NDP recently tabled Bill C-237, the Candidate Gender Equity Act.

The idea is to create financial incentives for political parties to nominate more women. Apparently this is successfully done in some nations in Europe and helps parliaments move closer to equity.

Introduction of bill in House

The bill itself

From the Bill:

Quote:
Summary:

This enactment amends the Canada Elections Act to reduce the reimbursement each registered party receives for its election expenses if there is more than a 10% difference in the number of male and female candidates on the party’s list of candidates for a general election.

So, parties that do not have gender equity of the candidates they run are penalized in the reimbursement they receive.

Sun, 2016-02-28 12:51

Debater

The NDP deserves some credit for being further ahead on this than the other parties.

And the Liberals deserve some credit for the gender equity in the Federal cabinet. However, the number of female MPs overall in the Liberal Party is still below what it should be.

And the Conservatives are worst of all.