We should rejoice at the election of 58 women to the National Assembly of Quebec; they thus occupy 46.4% of the seats. Never seen ! What a long way since the election of Claire Kirkland-Casgrain in 1961! All the people and all the groups who have been campaigning for gender parity for years are seeing their efforts rewarded by this spectacular result. Does this mean that we can stop there? That this invalidates any request for legislation? We believe not.
Our recent history has shown us advances and setbacks in the presence of women in politics and, as with all progress in our life in society, nothing beats a law to sustain it. Otherwise, headwinds as governments change can undermine hard-won gains.
In the immediate future, we formulate two requests. First of all, we expect the Prime Minister to present a joint cabinet shortly, as he did in 2018. But to highlight the importance of women in the new legislature, we believe that a gesture will imposed: that he appoint a woman to the presidency of the National Assembly. The first – and the only one to date – Louise Harel, held this position twenty years ago! The signal would then be given of a desire to share power between men and women, both for the governance of state affairs and for the development of laws that frame our collective life.
However, we must face a troubling reality that motivates our second request. Or, more and more women have access to the benches of Parliament, but they leave them more quickly than their male colleagues. An article by Jocelyne Richer, published in The duty and in The sun of August 23, revealed that among the 34 elected members who did not stand for re-election, nearly two-thirds were women, whereas they held only 44% of the seats at the time of the dissolution of the Chamber. What’s the point of attracting women into politics if they don’t stay there?
We believe that it is necessary to document the reasons motivating such numerous departures, often after a single mandate, in order to take the necessary corrective measures, for example by better regulating cyberbullying and by deploying measures facilitating family-work balance. Furthermore, we believe that it is urgent to offer a mentoring program to newly elected officials, in order to support them in their journey.
Being a woman in politics is a recent phenomenon. If we want it to be sustainable, let’s make sure that the image of Parliament reflects this progress and that elected women feel they belong enough to stay there.