International Women鈥檚 Day, March 8, has evolved over the years to become a kind of annual checkup to see how close women are getting to equality.
Pay equity? Not in sa国际传媒, where the wage gap favouring men over women stood at 19 per cent in 2010, says the Canadian Conference Board.
Parity in Parliament? No joy here, either. After the 2011 election, women held 25 per cent of the House of Commons鈥� 308 seats, which puts sa国际传媒 in 45th position for gender balance among the world鈥檚 189 parliaments, tied with Australia and just above Sudan.
Equal representation on the country鈥檚 boards of directors? Advancement here is barely detectable. In 2011, 14.5 per cent of sa国际传媒鈥檚 board seats were held by women, an increase of 0.5 percentage points since 2009.
But it is not all grim tidings this year; 2013 has brought something new, a historic first for the country. Women form the majority of sa国际传媒鈥檚 premiers. With the swearing-in last month of Kathleen Wynne in Ontario, five provinces and one territory where more than 85 per cent of Canadians live are led by women. In addition to Wynne, female premiers include Pauline Marois in Quebec, Christy Clark in British Columbia, Alberta鈥檚 Alison Redford, Kathy Dunderdale in Newfoundland and Labrador and Nunavut鈥檚 Eva Aariak.
The question is whether this change represents a breakthrough for women in sa国际传媒. Have barriers fallen and the way cleared for them to take political office in equal numbers?
鈥淚鈥檓 not sure yet,鈥� said Dunderdale, 61, elected premier of Newfoundland and Labrador in 2011. 鈥淚 think it鈥檚 going to require some time and we鈥檒l see how we progress in the next four or five years.鈥�
Manon Tremblay, professor at the School of Political Studies at Ottawa University, thinks having six female premiers in power is 鈥渉uge.鈥�
鈥淪imply by being there, they show that it鈥檚 possible for women to serve at the highest levels of power,鈥� Tremblay said. 鈥淚t allows girls to develop political ambition. Studies still show that young women, even with the same university education as young men, are less ambitious politically. So it鈥檚 very important to have women at the highest levels to break this dynamic.鈥�
Green Party leader Elizabeth May, 60, said: 鈥淲hen the public impression of what an MP looks like, what a premier looks like, what a prime minister looks like is always a guy in a suit, it has a very strong message to women not to see themselves there.鈥�
Nunavut鈥檚 Aariak, 58, said she is an example of a woman inspired by the women she saw in power. For her, those women were Nellie Cournoyea, the first female premier of a Canadian territory, and sa国际传媒鈥檚 Rita Johnston, sa国际传媒鈥檚 first female premier.
With the exception of Dunderdale and Redford, the female premiers are politically vulnerable, said Jane Arscott, assistant professor at Athabasca University.
Clark and Aariak face elections this year, Clark on May 14. A majority of sa国际传媒 voters said in a recent poll it was time for a change. Marois leads a notoriously fractious Parti Qu茅b茅cois and holds only 54 seats in the 125-seat National Assembly. Wynne is also head of a minority government, having taken over from an unpopular Dalton McGuinty.
According to the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, women represent 16 per cent of mayors and 25 per cent of councillors. Women make up 25 per cent of provincial legislators, 11 per cent of territorial representatives and slightly fewer than 25 per cent of MPs.
Deborah Grey, 60, the first member of the Reform party to be elected to Parliament, in 1989, and sa国际传媒鈥檚 first female leader of the Opposition, left politics in 2004. She sticks to the question at hand, whether the election of six female premiers represents a breakthrough for women in sa国际传媒.
鈥淭o have fully half of the premiers of the provinces women is great, but you know what, I鈥檇 like to think they鈥檙e capable,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 actually care if they鈥檙e women or not. It鈥檚 wonderful that they鈥檙e there, but they better be capable.
