Mr. Speaker, I guess I could give a psychological analysis as well as a financial one.
Part of it comes back to the fact that historically as well as to some extent now, women's work is not valued. Some decision makers in financial institutions, men or women, are having a bit of trouble making the link that women can actually be successful in a variety of areas. As my friend says, we know the statistics about the success of women in business.
I have heard this from my constituents and had the experience myself perhaps seven or eight years ago where I could not get a credit card unless my spouse signed to say that I was a good person, a good financial risk or something. The fact that I was divorced seemed to be not understood by the people who were asking.
It is attitudinal in our society. It is one of the attitudes we have to address. I speak to may women across the country, professional women, women who are moving from home base to larger enterprises. They have a terrible time getting funding. It is a very real problem.
I would say to my friend that there are many analyses I could make but the best would be for the government which according to the budget is going to be sitting down with financial institutions to make sure that it raises this very important issue for funding for women entrepreneurs. I am sure if my friend is there he will do that. I ask that the government make this a priority as well.
I was struck, and I mentioned it briefly in my comments, that at the end of last year the Financial Post put out a magazine that had 200 of Canada's top executives. We have to remember that the most influential chief executive officers of the country probably carry some political clout as well as business clout. Two of them were women.
This is also illustrative of the business community as a whole, not just the financial community. It has to recognize two things, not just the value of women but the reorganization of the work place that values-it would be of advantage to men as well-family roles.
That would go equally for the House. We might think about how schedules are arranged and those with family responsibilities, men and women, can be assured that there is more time to carry out family responsibilities by the very schedule we set here ourselves.
I have spoken to many women who are concerned, particularly in business and in politics, about taking senior positions because of the kind of humanless work environment that tends to be constructed in our society. That is a real issue for the future which all of us might want to give some attention to if we truly believe in involving more women in both of those arenas.