Women voluntarily leave politics not because of sexism, double standards or work-life balance, but because they feel underused.
This is the conclusion of Alexandre Dumas, historian and author of the study “Why do women leave politics? » commissioned by the women’s committee of the Circle of ex-parliamentarians of the National Assembly after the wave of departures in 2022.
What emerges from his interviews with 21 former elected officials is that they had the impression of playing the “green plant”, he explains in an interview in Parliament, using the famous expression of the ex-MP caquiste turned conservative, Claire Samson.
During her last press briefing, in June 2022, Ms. Samson shocked many by declaring that the deputies acted as “green plants” at the Salon bleu, and that she had personally worked harder at 17 at Da Giovanni.
According to Mr. Dumas, Claire Samson – who was outraged at having to ask written questions in advance in parliamentary committee – “perfectly illustrates the frustration aroused by the feeling of playing a ceremonial role”.
“Elected officials who leave politics […] had the impression that their skills were not recognized and that they had no other use than to register their presence in the Chamber to ensure a quorum, […] in other words to play the role of “green plant”,” he writes in his essay.
“We ask them to read lines of communication to journalists, to vote on bills that they have not had time to read and on which they are not asked to have an opinion anyway, they are asked to gives the questions that they must read in parliamentary committee,” he specifies in an interview.
This frustration may well be shared by men, but unlike women, they tend to want to stay in their jobs, he explains.
He points out that almost two thirds of the elected officials who did not stand for re-election in 2022 were women, although they only constituted 44% of the delegation at the time of the dissolution of the Chamber.
“More men are making politics a career,” he says. (Women), in the end, ask themselves: “Why do we make these sacrifices? Why are we doing this?” »
There are obstacles to the perseverance of women in politics: sexism, microaggressions, double standards in the media, cyberharassment, work-life balance, lists the researcher.
“The interviews, however, do not give the impression that these factors were decisive,” he writes.
“It’s when they feel like they can’t play their role well or that their role could be filled by someone else without it making a difference that they make the decision to leave. »
Review the role of the MP
Former PQ MP and minister Marie Malavoy, who is now involved in the Circle of Ex-Parliamentarians, believes that collective reflection is necessary.
“There, we have a problem,” she said in an interview. We have been working for years to bring women into politics, to attract them, […] but if they come in and they don’t hold out, […] we are no further ahead. […] It’s a missed basket. »
Remember that in 2022, the parliamentary leader of the government, Simon Jolin-Barrette, is committed to carrying out parliamentary reform, in particular to upgrade the role of deputy.
Among other things, he proposed creating a deliberation chamber parallel to the Blue Room, the Chamber of Citizen Affairs, to hear the “affairs of the deputies” (including those of the ruling party).
It also provided for “a new section offering an additional forum for parliamentarians to debate, among other things, bills which do not originate from the government”.
For the project to come to fruition, discussions must still take place with the other parties represented in the National Assembly.
As part of his research, Alexandre Dumas interviewed, between November 2023 and May 2024, 21 female politicians who chose not to run again in the 2018 and 2022 elections.
He was able to benefit from the financial support of the Secretariat for the Status of Women, the Minister of Justice as well as the Minister of Immigration, Francisation and Integration.