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Women in political participation essay
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Women and Political Representation in Canada: Equality, Fairness, and Capabilities
I. Introduction
Social equality is the concept in which all individuals possess the same fundamental basic liberties, opportunities, moral value/respect, and social benefits. The concept of ‘equality’ has a multiplicity of meanings and definitions, and with the rise of liberalization and democratization around the world ‘social equality’ has become the most predominant. As economic openness creates greater wealth disparities, the parallel rise of democratization has enabled citizens to demand more accountability measures and public welfare services from their governments in order to manage such disparities. Although the movement towards greater social equality has made significant strides with the establishment of equal rights (especially in the 1960s following the civil rights and women rights movement), inequality is still widespread in society among different ethnicities, social classes, and even religions. Inequality is not, however, a characteristic that only encompasses/embodies developing countries, but also embodies developed countries as well.
Developed countries have often pride themselves as role models on issues of social equality to developing countries; however, gender, ethnic, and class disparity is prevalent in ‘wealthy’ countries. More importantly, it is implicit in that citizens believe that social equality exists, but in actuality disadvantaged individuals and groups still face several obstacles in reaching such equality. This paper will specifically focus on gender inequality in Canada. Canada is a country that has deemed itself as a progressive society due to its multicultural and hospitable character in which legislati...
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...e Forge Press. pp. 3.
Mohan, S. et al. (2001). “Baseline Report: Women and Political Representation in India.” International Women’s Rights Action Watch: Asia Pacific (IWRAW). Retrieved on December 17th, 2011 from < http://www.iwraw-ap.org/aboutus/pdf/FPwomen_and_pol_pax.pdf>.
Trimble, L. & Arscott, J. (2003). Still Counting: Women in Politics Across Canada. Peterborough: Broadview Press. pp. 34
Ibid. 44
http://www.ipu.org/wmn-e/world.htm
Brake, E. (2004). “Rawls and Feminism: What Should Feminists Make of Liberal Neutrality?” Journal of Moral Philosophy. 1(3). pp. 294.
Evans, E. (2009). “Can Liberalism ever be Feminist?” Journal of Liberal History. 62(1). pp.5
Berstein, R. (2007). “Racial Discrimination or Righting Past Wrongs?” in Justice: A Reader. 237-240. Ed. Sandel, M. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 237.
Trimble and Arscott 61
In Canada, women make up slightly more than half of the population. However, throughout Canadian history and modern day, women are needing to stand up for themselves and other women to bring about change. Canadian women are strong and have the power to work together and bring about change. Jennie Trout stood up for Canadian women that wanted to be in the medical field, women during WWI made a difference in their lives by entering the workplace and standing for their right to work, Nellie McClung was a leader for women’s suffrage, and The Famous Five campaigned and won The “Persons” Case allowing women to be considered persons under the Canadian Constitution. These women were instigators of change. Change for women only occurs when ambitious and courageous women stand up for a difference that they deserve.
Before World War I, equality for woman and men were very unfair. Woman weren’t even legally “persons”; they weren’t allowed to join parliament or the senate because they weren’t legally “persons”, therefore these jobs were occupied by men only. During World War I and World War II, many men had left for war, thus meaning there were many job openings that needed to be occupied as soon as possible, women then began to take on stereotypical male jobs which men thought women couldn’t do or couldn’t do as well. Women showed their capabilities and realized they shouldn’t be considered less than men. In retaliation of not being considered “persons”, women decided to take action. The famous five brought the persons case upon the supreme court of Canada in 1927, which was finally determined by Judicial Council of Britain's Privy Council in 1929. The “persons” case involved women not legally being “persons”. After the famous five won the case, women were legally considered “persons” then women began to join important jobs such as members of parliament and the senate. Along with becoming “persons”, women were beginning to get their right to vote in provinces slowly. In 1916, four provinces gave women the right to vote provincially and, finally, in 1940, the last province (Quebec) gave women the right to vote provincially. Later, in World War II, there was another change in
The fight for equality and human rights has been and still is a continuous battle played out on many fronts ranging from struggles between ruling governments and the people, the definition of societal roles and status, and also within the home on a domestic and individual level. The legacy for these battl...
Over several decades, Canadian women have greatly exceeded and made several advancement in earning women’s equality. Agnes MacPhail was a strong determined woman. At a young age, Macphail disliked housework and preferred helping her father with the farm livestock. She had longed for a life outside the farm work and hoped to attend school. However, Agnes’ family was in dire need for help to support the farm. She took action and never lost hope as she pleaded for two years for her parent's approval to go to school. With persistence and hope she gained their permission to start an education. Several women have shown phenomenal strength and conquered challenges to achieve equality. Women lived in a male-dominated society; however after 1914, Canadian
The Person’s Case is a great example of a political change that took place in Canada during the time frame of 1914 and 1938. After The Famous Five won their case, some change began. This event slowly changed the outlook of women across Canada. It proved that women were also persons, and capable of being in politics. In the 1920’s, women were still mainly seen as homemakers. For example,”In 1929, shortly after the person’s case, women made up 20% of the workforce. But they only worked in traditional female jobs that paid less than men.” (1) But, after the war, “They were expected to give up their jobs, and take care of their husbands and families.” (2) Even though the Person’s Case was done due to the unequal treatment of women in politics and the labour force, it also affected their respect in other fields. After World War One, “women were considered to...
When we look at the history of women’s paid employment in Canada, we can see that society has come a long way. Previously, women’s work was in the home, in the private sphere. Her work consisted of taking care uniquely of the home and the children. Rarely, would we see women working for a wage expect for poor women; only because, their families needed the income. Mainly, the only jobs that were available for women were domestic service, a job that relates to the private sphere of the home. People believed that if a woman had paid employment, she was taking away a paycheck from a man, or she would become too manly.
Gender equality had always been a vast topic for the ancients to solve and for modern society to improve on. From the society's early beginning of Masculinity to the gender equality contemporary world that we are maintaining, year 2016 has been exactly a century since women in Canada had first received their right to vote in the 20th century. In today’s world, it is not uncommon or abnormal for abounding amounts of females voting or running for political parties. This hundred-year recognition was earned through many female’s and male’s withstand to rights for women to vote. Many trials and obstacles were present for women when they were fighting for their right
Systemic discrimination has been a part of Canada’s past. Women, racial and ethnic minorities as well as First Nations people have all faced discrimination in Canada. Policies such as, Charter of Rights and Freedoms, provincial and federal Human Rights Codes, as well has various employment equity programs have been placed in Canada’s constitution to fight and address discrimination issues. Despite these key documents placed for universal rights and freedoms Aboriginal and other minority populations in Canada continue to be discriminated against. Many believe there is no discrimination in Canada, and suggest any lack of success of these groups is a result of personal decisions and not systemic discrimination. While others feel that the legislation and equality policies have yet resulted in an equal society for all minorities. Racism is immersed in Canadian society; this is clearly shown by stories of racial profiling in law enforcement.
One of the best ways to judge the different political arguments in Canada from the early 20th century, is by reviewing the different political cartoons that were released. These were an effective way of educating the masses because it did not require an advanced education or vocabulary to understand where each side was debating. One of the more popular conflicts that were ongoing in the first years of the 1900’s was the fight for women’s equality. This included the right to vote and the right to participate in government. By comparing political cartoons from before, during, and after the First World War the changing context of Canadian society also affected the public opinion and the power balance towards the evolution of Women’s equality.
Throughout history, women, no matter what race or class they came from, have not always been given the right to participate in government. Through political attitudes and institutions, women’s rights were excluded. However, due to the fight women have put up against “old-fashioned” societal thinking, changes have been made from pre 1900 to post 1900 that have changed the way women are seen in a society.
middle of paper ... ... CRT scholars criticize the incapacity of legal discourse because it only addresses the most crude forms of racism and not the more complex forms of racism which are ingrained in nowadays’s society (Gillborn, 2008). This critique does not attempt to diminish the significance of civil rights, it criticizes traditional’s legal doctrine of inability to deal with subtle and invisible forms of racism (Gillborn, 2008). Moreover, civil rights crusade, is a long and slow process, which has not yet brought the desired social change and as CRT scholars argue the beneficiaries of this legislation was the Whites (Ladson-Billings, 2004).
We live in a world full of many societal issues. The aspects that determine whether one will have a successful or unsuccessful life is due to their characteristics such as race, gender, and social status. In the book Is Everyone Really Equal, Ozlem Sensoy and Robin DiAngelo’s exigence is to express the following issues and to encourage the reader to work upon changing the world through social injustice, oppression, power, and community.
Nelson, Barbara and Chowdhury, Najma, eds. Women and Politics Worldwide. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1994.
Commack (2014) draws comparisons between radical, conservative, and liberal feminisms, clearly explaining the differences in thought that allow for the distinctiveness of each approach (p.38-39). Although radical and conservative feminisms share an assumption of essentialist and biological differences between men and women, radical feminists focus and value almost entirely on women and their traits, while conservative feminists tend to value perceived ‘male’ traits (Commack, 2014, p.38). Evans (1995) disagrees slightly with Commack’s argument though, arguing that early radical feminist theory was more egalitarian and saw both sexes as “marred by society: by patriarchy and by capitalism,” and was less likely to blame men for the oppression of women (p.64). Commack (2014) states that radical feminism emerged in response to a liberal feminist approach and some of the criticisms that had emerged regarding it (p. 37). While a liberal feminist approach may call for administrative reform within society, a radical feminist framework calls for “transformation or major structural change” which may be necessary when the amount of inequality within society is considered
The implementation of gender quotas in electoral politics is a mean to combat the democratic deficit that occurs when a social group is excluded from the political sphere due to structural or cultural reasons. Quotas are a form of affirmative action/positive discrimination which is meant to remove the structural and cultural obstacles that keep women out of the formal political ...