Status of Women committee  The first point I would make is, not all PR systems have better gender equity representation in their the parliaments than we do. It's not a guarantee. One of the things that's true, though, is that if you have a PR system, what you don't normally have are single-member ridings.

Status of Women committee  I would say part of what the House of Commons has to be in the end is about respect for diversity of opinion. I think that's an important principle. Even if there are individuals who believe women who get to their positions because of quotas are there without having necessarily e

Status of Women committee  I take exception with the point that was made. I don't think that party always trumps every issue. I think that, on certain occasions, you can get gender to bring women together and to work, even outside party discipline. I think it can be done if the issue is important enough. T

Status of Women committee  I think it's essential, if you have a family. We know many more women than men are single when they run for office.

Status of Women committee  Sure. I don't think you can do it alone. Are there many things in life that you can do alone? In politics, particularly if you're leaving home, I think a support system is essential to being able to do this, and more greatly so if you have children.

Status of Women committee  There isn't the kind of search that gets women into the spotlight. Dr. Phil Cross spoke to you as well, and his point I think is well taken: Women need to be asked, while men tend to be already working the floors and the networks they need. Women need to be asked not once, but tw

Status of Women committee  The minute you use a quota, you're going to get people's backs up, but I take issue with the notion that women who are in positions because of a quota somehow have a harder row to hoe, if you will, than others because of their positions. It's not 2%, but I know within the discipl

Status of Women committee  I think there are a lot of women outside of the room who could do it, but don't get a chance.

Status of Women committee  Certainly, where they're running determines their success. Absolutely. We know that in part because right now, there's work—and this isn't my work, this is the work of Melanee Thomas at the University of Calgary, with Marc-André Bodet—that has shown that the “sacrificial lamb” h

Status of Women committee  First, I might not always teach this in statistics. When you're concentrating on gaps between women and men, the difference between the two of them, we often say that women are less interested in politics than men are, therefore they didn't run. That's true, but that doesn't mean

Status of Women committee  I haven't looked at that in a while, but what I have looked at in the past is that normally first-generation immigrants tend to be overwhelmed with just getting engaged in setting themselves up. Very often it's the second and future generations that are much more involved in poli

Status of Women committee  I just reiterate, there is no question that the leader of a party sends a very clear message on what is desired on the part of the party. I would also make the case that the informal processes that are in the party matter, the things that aren't legislated. Again, research has

Status of Women committee  Yes, yes, exactly. They're hidden.

Status of Women committee  Language matters, and you're absolutely right.

Status of Women committee  To me, that's a function of the lower level of political interest among women. We know there's a gap in political interest. Men tend to be more interested in politics than women are. If you're not even interested in politics, you're less likely to want to see yourself run. I al