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MONTREAL – The 2012 Quebec electoral campaign made history when it saw 254 female candidates running in the general provincial election.
In 2014 however, it’s a slightly different story: of the 815 candidates, there are now 241 women running, reflecting a drop of over 5 per cent.
Live coverage of the 2014 Quebec election
The difference between this electoral campaign and that of 2012 is even more clear when looking at the ridings.
In 2012, there were just seven ridings with no female candidates – Blainville, Chapleau, Caspe, Nicolet-Becancour, Saint-Jerome, Ungava and Vaudreuil.
However, in 2014, this number more than doubled.
Currently, there are a total of 15 ridings that feature only men on the ballots, while two ridings, Iberville and Outremont, have only female candidates running for each of the four main parties.
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Parti Quebecois leader Pauline Marois faced a considerable amount of controversy when her own caucus challenged her leadership skills as a woman, nicknaming her the “Iron Lady.”
On top of that, a string of high-profile female MNAs have resigned over the past few years, for varying reasons.
Former Liberal Minister of Education Line Beauchamp stepped down after the controversy of the 2012 student protests against tuition fee increases, and former Liberal Deputy Premier Nathalie Normandeau resigned after reports linked her to alleged mobster Lino Zambito, who recently appeared as a witness at Quebec’s corruption inquiry.
Longtime Liberal MNA Yolande James was the former Liberal Minister of Immigration and Cultural Communities and Minister of Family before she resigned this year in order to spend more time with her family.
The former Liberal MNA, Fatima Houda-Pepin left the caucus after an intense disagreement with the party over her views as a Muslim woman of the Parti Quebecois’ proposed charter of values. She is currently running for re-election as an independent in the South Shore riding of La Piniere, where she has been the MNA for twenty years.
Despite the challenges of running as a women, Genevieve Rail, the principal of Concordia University’s Simone de Beauvoir Institute, suggested that all politicians should brace themselves for public life.
“Politicians of all sexes know and accept the risks involved with making their image public,” she told Global News.
“Of course women always have to deal with higher and somewhat different standards, but that is also part of the game they accept to play.”
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Between the four main parties, there are 170 female candidates – and perhaps it won’t come as a surprise to see that the parties led by women have more women running as candidates.
Coalition Avenir Quebec: 23% women candidates
Quebec Liberal Party: 28% women candidates
Parti Quebecois: 37% women candidates
Quebec Solidaire: 50% women candidates
The Parti Quebecois has 46 female candidates for a total of 37 per cent, while the Liberals have slightly fewer, at 35 women, or 28 per cent.
Francois Legault’s Coalition Avenir Quebec has the lowest number of female candidates, with 28 women on his team, or 23 per cent.
Quebec Solidaire is the only party that boasts a 50 per cent male-female ratio, with 62 female candidates.
Why do you think there are so few women candidates? Does gender affect how you vote? Let us know in the comments.
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