Maybe not.
Evidence of meeting #107 for Status of Women in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was run.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Evidence of meeting #107 for Status of Women in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was run.
A recording is available from Parliament.
June 7th, 2018 / 5:05 p.m.
Liberal
Bernadette Jordan Liberal South Shore—St. Margarets, NS
Well, at this point, right here, as an elected woman.
Daughters of the Vote really focused on a younger demographic, which was great. We want to bring younger people on line. But I think we want more than just young women. We want women of colour. We want indigenous women. We want older women. Can you take Daughters of the Vote and maybe expand it?
I'm going to use this as an example. I was making phone calls one night. I had a woman on the phone who said, “Oh, I'm so happy that you're my representative. It's nice to see a woman there, the first woman elected in my riding. I'd love to do it, but I'm too old.” I asked how old she was, and she said she was 39.
I think we've done a disservice. We often talk about getting more women elected, but we seem to focus on younger women. It's not as if that isn't great, but I think we need all women.
What can we do to encourage women of my age? I was 52. I wanted to run from the time I was 17, but it took me until I was 52 to say, “I'm not going to look back on my life and say I wish I would have.” How do we get people in an older demographic or in marginalized communities to put their names forward?
5:05 p.m.
Executive Director, Equal Voice
I think we have to model 21st century workplaces. In fact, the Manning Institute commissioned a survey a number of years ago. They interviewed female community leaders, mid-level professionals in their late thirties to late fifties. Women did not say they didn't want to run because of a lack of interest. They said that, in fact, they did not feel the environment would be one where they could immediately make a difference.
There is a misperception about politics: what does it mean to actually be in the political space and make a difference? But also women were not feeling compelled to leave successful professions because they misunderstood or misread what the opportunity was.
I think systems-level changes are really important, but I also think proactive mentorship is as well. I'll leave it to Eleni, as someone who has served.
5:05 p.m.
National Board Member, Equal Voice
And who has lived from 39, when I was too old to get elected today.
All of that said, we have tried to be as concise as we could with whatever we've proposed by way of recommendations to the committee. There are health issues that could be addressed by doing video conferencing or other things like that. It's not only about having babies; it's also about changing the way we actually work in the system itself. There are older women who are taking care of aged parents. If they are MPs and they have to go back because one of their parents is suffering from Alzheimer's, at least that opportunity will be available for them to participate in committee.
I don't want you to take any of our recommendations as meaning that you're too old to have a baby, and that means our recommendations are not age dependent. I think you can do politics at any age, and I say that to all of the women I mentor. You can come from any profession. The whole idea is to provide that diversity of opinion at the table, to be able to come up with the best policies possible for our government, and that requires having everybody at the table, not just one generation.
5:05 p.m.
Executive Director, Equal Voice
I would also ask, why didn't you run at an earlier age, and what led you to hold back. I think that's an important part of the conversation about investing in younger women.
5:05 p.m.
Liberal
Bernadette Jordan Liberal South Shore—St. Margarets, NS
You actually made a good point.
I'd like you to chime in on this one as well, Ms. Glasgo. Is leaving an established career, running, and not knowing where you're going to go after that if you're not elected a barrier? Some people are lucky enough to take a leave of absence. Some people, depending on their career, have to actually quit. Then if you're not elected, where do you go?
Because you are running now, I'm not sure if that has had an impact on you in the career you've chosen. I suppose politics is the career you've chosen, but do you know what I'm saying? Is there something we can do, or is there a recommendation we can make, that people shouldn't be penalized for running, because in some cases I believe they are.
5:10 p.m.
As an Individual
That's a tough one for me because my instinct is to say that government is never the answer. We should never be mandating anything, and it should be a grassroots, organic initiative. In this case, for me, it was a simple decision. I never thought I would run for elected office, to be honest with you, but I just kind of thought, why not? I think it's incumbent upon us as people in general that if we feel we can make a difference and that we should be involved, then we should get involved.
I think one of the greatest things about our society is that risk pays off. If you are going to take a big risk and run, I think that should be your first priority, and prioritizing your own campaign. For me, right now, my priority is to win. If I prioritize job security or—for heaven's sake—financial security, if anything, I think I'm doing myself a disservice in my own campaign. I would just say that I think the basic principles of our society will weigh out here, and the risk will pay off.
5:10 p.m.
Liberal
Bernadette Jordan Liberal South Shore—St. Margarets, NS
I think that's a great point. When we look back at women who may be a little bit older and running, who may be single moms whose kids depend on their putting food on the table or whatever, it's a different conversation than for someone who doesn't have those challenges or those barriers to running.
Go ahead.
5:10 p.m.
Executive Director, Equal Voice
I think it's a question of professional autonomy. In your neck of the woods, Louise Carbert did a very interesting analysis of women in Atlantic Canada. She found that because of the overrepresentation of women in the public service, a lot of them felt that even if they had the right to run, they were compromising their professional trajectories or the trajectories of their partners, their husbands; and they really couldn't. They just felt there was too much risk attached to being breadwinners, or what have you.
5:10 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Karen Vecchio
Yes.
I'm learning lots, and you're speaking on behalf of everybody like you and me when you ask, “What happens when you're a little older?”
5:10 p.m.
Voices
Oh, oh!
5:10 p.m.
Conservative
5:10 p.m.
Voices
Oh, oh!
5:10 p.m.
Conservative
5:10 p.m.
Voices
Oh, oh!
5:10 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Karen Vecchio
I know. Thank you so much.
We're going to our second round.
Rachel, you have five minutes.
5:10 p.m.
Conservative
Rachael Thomas Conservative Lethbridge, AB
Thank you.
Michaela, maybe just tapping into that a little bit, could you discuss some of the barriers you faced? They could be external barriers, but they also could be internal barriers. Even in your thought process or your personal life, what were the factors that played into weighing the pros and cons of running?
5:10 p.m.
As an Individual
That's a good question.
I've stated quite clearly that I don't believe there were any systemic barriers to my running. I think it was just a matter of my making a decision and sticking to it. For me, personally, the biggest barrier would be that I was always questioning my competency. I don't think that's gendered, though. I think that's just being a self-reflective person. I think that's just having an ounce of.... I'm at a loss for words.
I think it's just knowing what you're capable of and honing in on that. Whether that's actually a barrier, I'm not sure, but as far as systemic barriers go, I don't think that any existed to my running.
5:10 p.m.
Conservative
Rachael Thomas Conservative Lethbridge, AB
Thank you.
To that end as well, maybe you could talk a little bit about your view of quotas. In your remarks, you commented that you would be opposed to quotas. Why is that? If not quotas, what are other mechanisms that can be used to help encourage women to run?