We Need More Women in Politics
I find a lot of people who think that women are equal to men in our society in this day and age.
However, women are not adequately represented in politics, and I think that needs to be rectified. Women have a different viewpoints than men and they are being underepresented.
The following is an excerpt from a speech by Sheila Copps which emphasises my point:
“Since Confederation, 549 men have served in the Cabinet of the Government of Canada. So have 28 women.
The leaders of all the political parties in the House of Commons are men. So are all the candidates for the leadership of the federal PC Party. So are the other two candidates for the leadership of our Party.
The Premiers of all ten provinces are men. The leaders of the three territories are men. The mayors of all our provincial capitals are men.
That's just not acceptable. We need to do much, much better. There should be no glass ceilings in the basic democratic institutions of Canada.
By two elections from now, 50% of the candidates for Parliament for the Liberal Party should be women. I will encourage the Party to develop both the methods and the enthusiasm to accomplish that goal.
You know, I am still asked on a regular basis whether the Liberal Party is ready for a woman leader.
I like to reply that Bangladesh, Bermuda, Bolivia, Burundi, the Central African Republic, Dominica, Finland, Great Britain, Haiti, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Israel, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, the Netherlands Antilles, New Zealand, Norway, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Turkey have all had women leaders. So I think the Liberal Party of Canada can handle it.
And it's not just the role of women in public life where we need to do better.”
However, women are not adequately represented in politics, and I think that needs to be rectified. Women have a different viewpoints than men and they are being underepresented.
The following is an excerpt from a speech by Sheila Copps which emphasises my point:
“Since Confederation, 549 men have served in the Cabinet of the Government of Canada. So have 28 women.
The leaders of all the political parties in the House of Commons are men. So are all the candidates for the leadership of the federal PC Party. So are the other two candidates for the leadership of our Party.
The Premiers of all ten provinces are men. The leaders of the three territories are men. The mayors of all our provincial capitals are men.
That's just not acceptable. We need to do much, much better. There should be no glass ceilings in the basic democratic institutions of Canada.
By two elections from now, 50% of the candidates for Parliament for the Liberal Party should be women. I will encourage the Party to develop both the methods and the enthusiasm to accomplish that goal.
You know, I am still asked on a regular basis whether the Liberal Party is ready for a woman leader.
I like to reply that Bangladesh, Bermuda, Bolivia, Burundi, the Central African Republic, Dominica, Finland, Great Britain, Haiti, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Israel, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, the Netherlands Antilles, New Zealand, Norway, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Turkey have all had women leaders. So I think the Liberal Party of Canada can handle it.
And it's not just the role of women in public life where we need to do better.”
posted by Superman at 8:55 AM
3 Comments:
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Last week in class we discussed radical feminism and politics and about Walker's feminist views as a reason she might not win the election. I think that radical feminism hinders the strength and true platforms of feminism. Radical feminist ideologies can be overwhelming and unrealistic. They believe that women's oppression is the root of all other forms of inequality. However, this idelogy is quite different that feminism. I feel that it undermines true feminism in politics, as it focuses on women alone and not the various other aspects of inequality.
When the media portrays feminism, they mostly show the extreme radical feminists, and this is the image the majority tend to link with feminism. Liberal feminism calls for social reform to obtain equality, yet the media tends to group all feminists together. I feel that this grouping of various feminist beliefs is one of the main reasons women are underrepresented in politics. People do not want to vote for a feminist because of the extremist views connected with the ideology. They cannot separate radical versus liberal feminism.
I applaud Sheila Copps for continuously advocting for women's rights in politics. I invite you to look atStill Counting The site shows the various political groups and how many female members they have. There are some charts and tables with informationa bout women's representation in politics that you may find interesting.
We should have more woman in politics definitely! I think it would give politics issues a different perspective. I'm a young lady and would love to get into politics, but I don't think I could handle the public eye/scrutiny that they have to go through on a regular basis. I also notice women in politics tend to get bashed more about their appearance. It was a big deal when Belinda went from blonde to brunette, everyone thought it was political tactic to be taken more serious as a politician,etc. I also don't think that women like the debate period all that much because of how hostile it can get. The verbal attacks are discouraging as well as enraging. However, I think if we had more women in politics, things wouldn't be so hostile, less wars and embargos, etc.
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