Women in Parliament : Femmes au Parlement

For example, the equal participation of women and men in public life is one of the cornerstones of the 1979 United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), of which Canada is a signatory. [...] L I B R A R Y. O F. P A R L I A M E N T B I B L I O T H È Q U E. D U. P A R L E M E N T 2 decade, as indicated in Table 1. With 22.1% of seats in the House of Commons currently held by women, Canada is still far from the 30% minimum necessary to ensure a critical mass of women, and ranks 47th internationally, with Mauritania, in the representation of women in the lower house of parliament. [...] The representation of women in Canada’s Senate is considerably higher than in the House of Commons, with 35% of Senate seats held by women.(5) The representation of women on municipal councils (23.4%)(6) and in provincial/territorial legislatures (23%)(7) is now higher than that at the federal level. [...] In these cases, the increased representation of women is not the result of incremental progress, but a radical re-conceptualization of the electoral and parliamentary processes in a way that recognizes the importance of equity between men and women. [...] Although there is a willingness on the part of the electorate to increase the representation of women in elected positions, a number of factors make it less likely and more difficult for women to run and get elected.