Did Justin Trudeau smash Canada’s political glass ceiling?

Parliament Hill just before the polls opened on election day, Oct. 19, 2015. A historic number of women were elected to Canada’s federal government during the election. | Photo © Kelly Hobson

Canadians elected a record number of women in the 2015 federal election. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appointed a gender balanced cabinet. But where does Canada stand globally when it comes to women in national parliaments?

As leader of an opposition party, Elizabeth May is always looking for ways to critique the sitting government. But when it comes to newly-elected Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his approach to gender equality, the Green Party leader finds little fault.

“I should be finding ways to attack,” said May. “But I’m not going to.”

It was mid afternoon at the Rideau Club in Ottawa, nearly a month after the Liberals swept to majority power on Oct. 19. May had just finished a policy luncheon and was hurrying off to another meeting. Scheduled to leave for the Paris climate talks just a few days later, she had much to do in preparation.

“Justin Trudeau just smashed the glass ceiling in politics to bits. Forever.”— Elizabeth May, Green Party leader

But in a momentary pause, she reflected on what Canada’s new government—with a record number of female MPs and gender parity in the cabinet—could mean for women in the future.

“If you don’t have women visible in positions of power and leadership, then no one believes women are capable of occupying positions of power and leadership,” said May. Getting more women into those roles is the only way to make progress, she said.

As for the precedent Canada’s new prime minister has set?

“Justin Trudeau just smashed the glass ceiling in politics to bits,” she said. “Forever.”

A history of absence

For more than a decade, Agnes Macphail was the only woman in the House of Commons. She was the first woman elected to Canada’s federal government, standing as the lone female MP from 1921 until 1935, when female representation doubled with the election of Martha Louise Black.

In the intervening years, women have made great strides towards equality in Canadian politics.  Steadily, more women were elected into parliament. Briefly, Kim Campbell served as the first female prime minister in 1993. And with 88 female MPs elected into office last month, Canada’s parliament now has a record female representation of 25.8 per cent.

“Historically, we’ve had modest and incremental progress,” said Nancy Peckford, spokeswoman for Equal Voice. Equal Voice is an advocacy organization founded in 1994 with a goal of equal representation and respect for women in Canadian politics. “We’d like to see more women elected to the House on all sides,” said Peckford.

“We’d like to see more women elected to the House on all sides.”— Nancy Peckford, Equal Voice spokeswoman

Others noted that the spike in the number of female MPs elected (up from 76 in 2011) didn’t account for a significant proportional increase. The previous government had 24.7 per cent female representation, meaning the increase was just over one per cent.

“This increase is pretty negligible,” said Elizabeth Goodyear-Grant, a political science professor at Queen’s University, in an interview with Carleton’s Midweek Radio. “For me this is really no change, it’s a sort of steady pattern.”

“In a representative democracy, the goal is to represent the distribution of people and opinion. The fact that 50 per cent of the population holds only 26 per cent of the seats right now is problematic.”

Where in the world?

Globally, Canada’s female representation in federal parliament is below standard. Rwanda tops the ranking compiled by the Inter-Parliamentary Union, with women comprising 63.8 per cent of its national parliament. Following closely is Bolivia at 53.1 per cent and in third Cuba at 48.9 per cent. Canada is tied for 48th with Croatia, Honduras, Israel and Turkmenistan.

“There are more women in the parliament of Afghanistan than Canada,” said May. “We rate very poorly, except when we compare ourselves to the United States.”

“To change patriarchy, you actually need to do something bolder than waiting for incremental change,” said May. “Given the history of what happened in Norway, I think it’s the only way.”

Barriers to taking office

Deciding to run is the first of many barriers women face in getting elected to public office.

“Women need to run,” said Peckford. “We don’t have enough women on the ballot.”

Of the five major parties in the 2015 federal election, the party with the highest proportion of female candidates was the NDP, at 43.2 per cent. The lowest was the Conservatives at 19.5 per cent.

“I’m hoping the tone that’s been set by Prime Minister Trudeau continues, and encourages more women at all levels of public life to stand for elected office.” – Anne McLellan, former Liberal MP

Women don’t necessarily get elected any less often than men. The problem is that they don’t run, and so the proportion of women elected to office doesn’t climb as rapidly as it could. A combination of social factors contributes to women not seeking elected office, according to a study from American University. They almost all come down to young women not being socialized to consider politics as a career path.

“I’m hoping the tone that’s been set by Prime Minister Trudeau continues, and encourages more women at all levels of public life to stand for elected office,” said Anne McLellan, former Liberal MP for Edmonton Centre. McLellan served in the Liberal caucus from 1993 to 2006. She held several positions in the cabinet for Jean Chrétien and was appointed deputy prime minister for Paul Martin.

“Let’s get out there and do whatever we can to talk to more women about why they are absolutely qualified to run for office, and the tremendous contribution they could make if they ran and got elected,” said McLellan.

Prestigious portfolios

There were mixed reactions to Trudeau’s announcement about gender parity in his cabinet, from exuberance to concern about merit in the appointments. Some noted that where women were placed in the cabinet would be just as important as equal representation.

“Some portfolios are more prestigious than others: finance, justice, defence and foreign affairs,” Goodyear-Grant told Midweek Radio.

Finance, defence and foreign affairs all went to male MPs. But for May, the appointment of Jody Wilson-Raybould as justice minister is a significant win.

“To have a First Nations woman as the minister of justice is enormous in so many ways,” said May. “So yes, it would be great to have a minister of finance who’s a woman, but the women in those positions, health, indigenous affairs, those are not small portfolios.”

A sunny tomorrow

While Canada has a history of poor female representation in the nation’s highest offices, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s gender parity cabinet has catapulted Canadian parliament up the leaderboard. Although it may take until the next federal election for the aftershocks of this decision to be felt, there’s much to be gained in the years ahead, said McLellan.

“I’m very excited about what I see happening right now in the new government,” she said. “I think this is a government that will do lots of things to understand both the challenges and opportunities that women have in front of them.”