Electing Women in Ontario - Essay Example

Ontarios Record on Election of Women HISTORY A long time before Canadian women had the right to vote, and the right to contest in provincial and federal elections, they participated in organizations that were devoted to educational development, especially in rural areas, giving support to churches, helping to promote stricter liquor laws, and fighting for the rights of women. Women also contributed to the development of social conditions and quality of life in Canada. Hence, it did not take long for women to impact on society as soon as they became eligible to take part in the electoral process in Ontario. Federally, women became eligible to vote on the 24th of May, 1918, “and in 1929 Canadian women were legally declared "persons" and were granted the right to become members of the Senate.” (http://www.rbcbank.com/responsibility/letter/nov_dec1991.html) Since then, many Canadian women have been participating in the electoral process and affairs of state. Women only won the right to vote gradually in Canada and remain underrepresented in Parliament as well as in provincial legislatures. The first federal election in which women were able to vote and run as candidates was 1921. In that election, four women ran for office and Agnes Campbell MacPhail (1890-1954) made history as the first woman elected to the Canadian House of Commons. Between 1921 and 2006, 3402 women candidates stood in the 39 general elections and won on 426 occasions. (http://www.worldmayor.com/manifestos05/mississauga_05.html) Hazel McCallion was first elected to the office of Mayor of Mississauga, Ontario in November, 1978, and she is the longest serving Mayor in the citys history. On the 11th of November 2003, Hazel McCallion started her 10th term as Mayor of Mississauga, Ontario. She was acclaimed in 1980, re-elected in 1982 and 1985, acclaimed again in 1988 and re-elected in 1991, 1994, 1997, 2000, 2003 and 2006. The Mayor was runner-up in World Mayor 2005. Mayor McCallion was born in Port Daniel on the Gaspe Coast of Quebec, and educated in Quebec City and Montreal. She then began a career with Canadian Kellogg, and remained with the company for 19 years. In 1967 she decided to leave the corporate world and devote her career to politics. She was elected Chairman of the Streetsville Planning Board that year, and again in 1968. Later that same year, she became Deputy Reeve of Streetsville. She was later appointed Reeve, and then elected Mayor of Streetsville in 1970, serving until December, 1973. When the Region of Peel was established in 1974, Ms McCallion was elected to the Mississauga and Peel Regional Councils. She served two terms as a Councillor prior to her mayoral campaign in 1978. By the time she was elected Mayor, she had sat on virtually every committee at the Region of Peel and the City of Mississauga. She has also served on the executive of many federal and provincial committees and associations. (http://www.worldmayor.com/manifestos05/mississauga_05.html) Nellie McClung (1873-1951) was an outstanding activist who was in the forefront for the fight for womens rights including the right to vote and be voted for, made some remarkable statements in 1929. She said, "We may live to see the day when women will no longer be news!" this hope has been realized in recent years – there is no questioning of women in politics today, and they have been voted for in every political arena. The Election Act of the Dominion stated that "no women, idiot, lunatic, or child" could vote. Nellie McClung happens to be one of the numerous women who fought for womens rights in politics, and other professions. She was a member of an early feminist movement variously called Maternal, Moral, or Social Feminism. Their agitations were not just on the equality of life of women in all areas of society as "equality feminism" later proved to be. It was boarded on better health care, removal of restrictions, womens institutions, cultural activities etc. These activities were accepted by men because women were "civilizing society and fulfilling their womanly roles". She helped form many womens organizations, and notable amongst them is the Federated Womens Institutes of Canada which was used to enhance the burgeoning Womens Institute movement which was developed everywhere including the Nipissing and Parry Sound Districts. She challenged the Premier of Manitoba on the right to vote and be voted for, he made a statement that typified the attitude of many men. He said, "I dont want a hyena in petticoats talking politics to me. I want a nice gentle woman to bring me my slippers." He lost that year’s election and on January 27, 1916 Manitoba made history by becoming the first province to give women the vote. The other provinces followed suit, Quebec didnt do it until 1940. The Federal Government finally agreed in 1918. One major obstacle was the Canadian Senate that was making use of the quoted British North America Act which said that ‘‘only persons could be Senators, and that did not include women’’. It was ridiculous. Nellie McClung and 4 other women made use of an obscure part of the BNA Act that said that ‘‘5 citizens could mount a challenge’’. They did and were successful. She moved to Alberta where she was able to become a Member of Parliament and continued the fight alongside dozens of other women for womens rights. (http://library.lsuc.on.ca/GL/Crossing%20the%20Bar/panel5.htm) CANADIAN WOMEN IN THE SENATE Although many Canadian women were eligible to vote in many provinces and in federal elections, they were not eligible to be appointment into the house of Senate of Canada until 1929. Many women were concerned about this, and womens groups began mounting pressure on the federal government to appoint a woman to the Senate in the late 1910s and early 1920s. Their repeated requests were unsuccessful initially. In August 1927, Emily Murphy and four other prominent Alberta women - Henrietta Muir Edwards, Nellie McClung, Louise McKinney and Irene Parlby, - wrote a petition to the Supreme Court of Canada for a lawful interpretation of section 24 of the British North American Act (BNA) that has to do with the appointments of women to the Senate of Canada. Approximately nine months later, by April 1928, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled against them, nicknamed the Famous Five, shattering and scattering their hopes that women could ever be appointed to the Senate of Canada. The Famous Five were not deterred but pressed on in their efforts for the recognition of Canadian women as persons qualified for the Senate. They resolved, and took their case to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in England, which was, then, Canadas highest court of appeal. Precisely on October 18, 1929, the Privy Council overturned the earlier decision of the Supreme Court of Canada after four days of deliberations, and declared Canadian women to be qualified for appointment to the Senate. This historic decision marked a turning point created a new precedent for women in gaining access to sectors of society previously reserved exclusively for men. A year later, in 1930, Cairine Reay Wilson made history by becoming the first woman to take her place in the Senate of Canada. The Famous Five were able to achieve not only the right for women to serve in the Senate, but they also paved the way for women to participate in other aspects of the Canadian public life. (http://www.swc-cfc.gc.ca/dates/whm/index_e.html) On the 11th of November 2003, Hazel McCallion began the 10th term of her reign as Mayor of Mississauga, Ontario. Elected for the first time as Mayor of Mississauga in November, 1978, she is the longest serving Mayor in the city’s long history. Acclaimed in 1980, re-elected in 1982 and 1985, respectively, acclaimed again in 1988 and re-elected in the following years 1991, 1994, 1997, 2000, 2003 and 2006 She was runner-up in World Mayor 2005. She was born in Port Daniel on the Gaspe Coast of Quebec, and was educated in Quebec City and Montreal. She began a career with Canadian Kellogg, and was with the company for 19 good years. In 1967, she left the corporate world and devoted her career to politics. That same year, she was elected Chairman of the StreetsVille Planning Board, and again in the following year 1968, she became Deputy Reeve of StreetsVille, and later appointed Reeve, and was elected Mayor of Streetsville in 1970, and served until December, 1973 In 1974, the Region of Peel was established and Ms McCallion was elected to the Mississauga and Peel Regional Councils. She served two terms as a Councilor before her mayoral campaign in 1978. When she was elected a Mayor, she had had the opportunity of sitting on virtually every committee at the Region of Peel and the City of Mississauga, Ontario. She has also served and meritoriously too on the executive of many federal and provincial committees and associations. In 1991, she became the first mayor of a major municipality who submitted the annual operating budget to residents for their input and scrutiny. In 1992, Mayor McCallion established the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) Mayors Committee She also brought together the GTA 30 mayors, and later added the four Regional Chairs and Chair of Metro Toronto to work co-operatively for the economic recovery and development of the GTA. Between 1992 to January 2000, the Committee, chaired by non other than Mayor McCallion, had and was a strong voice on key issues that had to do with the future of the GTA. She is also Honorary Co-chair of the Greater Toronto Marketing Alliance. In 1996, she was appointed to the ‘Who Does What’ Panel established by the province of Ontario for the purpose of reviewing the delivery and funding of government services. In February 2002, she was appointed Chair of the Central Ontario Smart Growth Panel. The panel was made up of 22 local government officials and notable business leaders; their function is to advise the provincial government on how to make a progressive plan for growth of the central region in both the short and long terms respectively. In addition to the demanding issue of growth, the panel is looking at other issues, which includes waste disposal and gridlock. The panel, which happens to be the largest in the province, extends from Niagara to Port Hope and Orillia, and includes the Regions of Niagara, Waterloo, Halton, Peel, York and Durham, as well as the City of Toronto. Mayor McCallion has played a major leading role for women in politics in Ontario. She was the first woman to hold such strategic positions as Mayor of Streetsville and Mayor of Mississauga, President of the Anglican Young Peoples Association of Canada, President of the Streetsville and District Chamber of Commerce. “She holds Germanys highest individual honor, the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, as a result of her role in bringing German companies to Canada.” (http://www.swc-cfc.gc.ca/dates/whm/index_e.html) The First Woman to be elected to Provincial Legislatures was Margarette Rae Morrison Luckock, in 1943 under the progressive party. A woman was first elected into federal office in Ontario in 1921. This was Agnes Macphail. (The National Library of Canada) WOMEN IN PARLIAMENT In 1921, Agnes Macphail became the first woman to be elected to the House of Commons. After her election, there began a steady increase in women’s representation in parliament. At present, this representation has been holding steady at a percentage of 20 percent, as it has been over the past decade. With women currently holding about 20.8 percent of seats in the House of Commons, the 30 percent minimum necessary to ensure a critical mass of women in Canada is still far, and it is ranked 45th internationally in the representation of women in the lower house of parliament. Minority women and Aboriginal women are even further under-represented. As a matter of fact, just three Aboriginal women have so far been elected to the Canadian House of Commons since 1867. (http://www.worldmayor.com/manifestos05/mississauga_05.html) Table 1: Women in the Canadian House of Commons Since 1984 Year Total Number of Seats Seats Held by Women Proportion of Seats Held by Women 1984 282 27 9.6 1988 295 39 13.3(4) 1993 295 53 18.0 1997 301 62 20.6 2000 301 62 20.6 2004 308 65 21.1 2006 308 64 20.8   WOMEN IN POLITICS NOW Women play a major role today in Ontario politics as it has been shown by the recent Provincial and Municipal Elections. Clearly, the number of men was more than the women that ran for elections, but those that ran did well. Women no doubt have been successful Mayors and Reeves across Ontario, Toronto, Ottawa, Timmins, Mississauga and Kingston etc. have all had outstanding women mayors. Re-elected was the woman Mayor of London. Collete Wilson did a great and wonderful job in Mattawa for years. In the recent election, West Nipissing had a woman mayor for the first time in the person of Joanne Savage. In a list of 19 races south of North Bay, one went from councilor to reeve, three women were acclaimed in Mayor/Reeve races, and another ran directly and won for a total of 5 of 19 or 26% (percentages are rounded). In these 19 municipalities, out of 173 people that ran for elections thirty-six were women (21%). Twenty-four out of the thirty-six women who ran won (67%). Twelve of the twenty-four who won were incumbents, suggesting that they did a good job while in office and got reelected. Women were present in almost all communities where elections were conducted except one where no women ran and there are no women on council. Armour and Perry Townships lost although they had a woman running, and as a result their councils do not have women on board. Sixteen of the 19 councils here can at least boast of one woman (84%). Of all of the eighty elected positions twenty-four or 30% were women. North Bay Councill has three of its ten winner’s women. “In Chisholm where I live there were four women on councill at one point last term. This time, current Mayor Barb Groves who was the first woman to run and win 20 years ago was acclaimed and incumbent Catherine OBanion was elected. An old Chisholm Voter’s list shown below had eighty-four eligible voters - all men and all property owners showing how things have changed.’’ (Mackey, D 2003) There are numerous reasons why women who as a matter of fact make up half of the population are not proportionally represented in governance, but it is clear that they are playing an increasingly important and significant role and that their presence in politics and other sphere of society is one of the great achievements at the end of the last millennium. (Heritage perspective website) References http://library.lsuc.on.ca/GL/Crossing%20the%20Bar/panel5.htm http://www.swc-cfc.gc.ca/dates/whm/index_e.html BANNERMAN, J. Leading Ladies Canada. Belleville, Ontario: Mika Publishing Company, 1977. BRAITHWAITE, R. and T. BENN-IRELAND. Some Black Women: Profiles of Black Women in Canada. Toronto: Sister Vision, 1993. BRAND, Dionne et al. Were Rooted Here and They Cant Pull Us Up : Essays in African Canadian Womens History. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1996. Canadian Elections data (Retrieved from http://www.elections.ca/ele/39ge/loc/loc.xls) Chinese Canadian National Council. Jin Guo: Voices of Chinese Canadian Women. Toronto: Womens Press, 1992. COOK, S. et al. Framing Our Past: Canadian Womens History in the Twentieth Century. Montréal: McGill-Queens University Press, 2001. COOMBER, J. and R. EVANS. Canadian Challenges: Women Changing Canada. Don Mills: Oxford University Press (Canada), 1997. DUNDAS, B. A History of Women in the Canadian Military. Montréal: Art Global, 2000. Federation of Canadian Municipalities. Increasing Women’s Participation in Municipal Decision Making: Strategies for More Inclusive Canadian Communities. Federation of Canadian Municipalities International Centre for Municipal Development, Ottawa, September 2004 HALL, M. Ann. The Girl and the Game: A History of Womens Sport in Canada. Peterborough, Ontario: Broadview Press, 2002. HALL, M. Ann and Dorothy A. RICHARDSON. Fair Ball: Toward Sex Equality in Canadian Sport. Ottawa: The Canadian Advisory Council on the Status of Women, 1982. HARSHAW, J.P. When Women Work Together: A History of the Young Womens Christian Association of Canada. Toronto: Ryerson Press, 1966 http://www.elections.ca/scripts/pss/FindED.aspx?L=e http://www.worldmayor.com/manifestos05/mississauga_05.html KEALEY, L. Pursuing Equality: Historical Perspectives on Women in Newfoundland and Labrador. St. Johns: Institute of Social and Economic Research, Memorial University of Newfoundland, 1993. KEALEY, L. and J. SANGSTER. Beyond the Vote: Canadian Women and Politics. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1989. KEALEY, L. et al. A Not Unreasonable Claim: Women and Reform in Canada 1880s-1920s. Toronto: The Womens Press, 1979. KOME, P. Women of Influence: Canadian Women and Politics. Toronto: Doubleday Canada Ltd, 1985. LIGHT, B. and R. ROACH PIERSON. No Easy Road: Women in Canada - 1920s to 1960s - Volume III. Toronto: New Hogtown Press, 1990. LIGHT, B. and J. PARR. Canadian Women on the Move - 1867-1920 - Volume II. Toronto: New Hogtown Press, 1983. LIGHT, B. and A. PRENTICE. Pioneer and Gentlewomen of British North America 1713-1867 - Volume I. Toronto: New Hogtown Press, 1980. Mackey, D (2003) Women in politics. Then and now MANN TROMENKOFF, S. and A. PRENTICE. Essays in Canadian Womens History: The Neglected Majority. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart Ltd, 1977. MCDONALD, David and Lauren DREWERY. For the Record : Canadas Greatest Women Athletes. Rexdale, Ontario: John Wiley and Sons Canada Limited and Fitness and Amateur Sport, 1981. Ontario party leaders take the Equal Voices challenge to nominate more women for the October 4, 2007 provincial election. (Retrieved from www.equalvoice.ca) The National Library of Canada (Revised: 1997-10-01) www.dawn.thot.net/index.html Read More