This summer at the cottage I’ve been trying to keep up
with the election news on my tablet news feed and online subscriptions to ipolitics and The Hill Times. There is the usual CBC radio, but it was through the
Hill Times I got an inkling that
there was to be a federal leaders debate on women’s and gender issues on
September 21st (Rachel Aiello, “Grit Leader Trudeau, Green Leader
May only two federal leaders in for debate on women’s issues, Sept 21, Hill Times, August 4, 2015). Then this
morning I read from Metro News that
the debate is in “jeopardy” because NDP leader Tom Mulcair will not debate if
Stephen Harper is not there.
[I will get my rant out of the way before the more
substantive discussion]
In pursuit of full disclosure, for the past four elections
I have been an inveterate strategic voter. I prefer the NDP but will
comfortably vote Liberal if I have to. However, with the wonderful performance
of the NDP members of the Commons Justice Committee on Bill C-36 and Trudeau’s position
on Bill C-51 I was certain that come October 19 I would go back wholeheartedly
to the NDP. Now, I’m not so certain.
I am completely unimpressed! To my understanding
elections are fundamentally about numbers and making a pitch to persuade the
greater number of people to support you. In refusing to participate because
Stephen Harper is not participating, it looks like Mulcair is only interested
in persuading and impressing one person, Stephen Harper. We all know that that
is never going to happen; but what about impressing and persuading a much
larger audience? In the case of this debate the target audience is 51% of the
Canadian public, not including other genders not defined as male and also men
who are affected by the policies associated with issues characterized as “woman
or gendered.” As was said in the Hill
Times article, “more women than men voted last time around…” (Wolsak in
Aiello). The voting literature tends to find that women are more progressive
voters favoring the Liberals and NDP more than men (see the work by Manon
Tremblay). However, that does not mean Mulcair should just take that for
granted particularly because Trudeau and May have shown that they are good to
go for the debate, showing an enthusiasm for women’s and gender issues which,
from my perspective, is nice to see. It goes without saying that their interest
in 51% of the population should work in their favour, while Muclair’s desire to
go mano-a-mano with Harper sends the wrong message on a number of gendered
levels. Fundamentally it’s insulting.
It also appears to be terrible messaging. Since Saint
Jack, the NDP has been all about “looking after all Canadian families.” This is a message which for people
particularly women who choose not to have children can be a bit tiresome,
because it ties into the overwhelming belief that women’s issues are by and
large family issues – childcare, eldercare, reproductive rights, domestic
abuse, family and dual income wages, etc. This goes straight to the party
messaging because by refusing to participate in the debate on women’s and
gender issues Mulcair looks like he lacks interest in families as well as women.
This raises the question, if he has no interest in me and my family, why should
I have any interest in him? The same can be said of Harper, but most of us are
aware of the contempt he holds for everyone else and their families so it doesn’t
really matter. I don’t care about what Harper has to say on women’s and gender
issues, but I am interested in hearing what Muclair has to say specifically on
the subject and, if elected, what his government would do for women … and families.
So my advice is “Tom pull on your big girl panties”
and say yes to an evening of telling the Canadian public what you and your
party would do to better the status of 51% of the Canadian population and why
you can do it better than the Liberal Party.
My suggestion to anyone dismayed about this as well is to tweet Tom
Mulcair @ThomasMulcair and tell him “to pull on his big girl panties and
debate!”
[That’s the end of the rant. The rest is a bit more
substantive.]
It is always fascinating
to observe the advocacy groups which emerge during elections. For the past few
elections, in my recollection at least since the 2005 election, it has been
Equal Voice (http://www.equalvoice.ca/)
which has been the most noticeable voice on women’s issues. The primary focus
of this group has been on the number of women candidate, but they have also
spoken on the need for recognition of women’s issues in the electoral
discourse. This discourse has been particularly problematic (for example see
Newman 2008). In this year’s marathon campaign, Up for Debate has appeared as a
noticeable voice form women, specifically in pushing for and organizing a women’s
issues debate. Oxfam Canada, one of the sponsoring organizations, describes Up
for Debate as “a Canada-wide conversation on gender justice and equality, and a
call for all political parties to make meaningful commitments to change women’s
lives for the better.”
Up for Debate is a
campaign of the Alliance for Women’s Rights. This is not to be confused with
the Alliance for International Women’s Rights (www.aiwr.org
– here’s a shout out) which supports women leaders and further women leaders in
development countries with a current focus in Afghanistan. The Canadian
Alliance for Women’s Rights is a coalition of 175 Canadian organizations (see
the list at the end of this blog) that came together for the 2015 election
campaign to ensure that women’s and gender issues were addressed. This coalition
comprises not just women’s and feminist organizations but anti-poverty, international
development, cooperative organizations and a number of unions, all of whom see
women’s and gender issues as intrinsically connected to the public good and
betterment society (including families).
Broadly the coalition’s
mandate or vision is to advocate for the ending of violence against women,
ending women’s economic inequality, and supporting women’s leadership and organizations.
More specifically the goal is to raise awareness about women’ rights in the
2015 election campaign. In line with this goal is the holding of a federal
leaders’ debate dedicated to women’s and gender issues. Further to this, Up for
Debate is organizing a lawn sign campaign. I assume this is very much like the “I
vote for CBC” lawn signs that have been popping up in people’s yards with the
summer dandelions. Up for Debate signs
will contain a handful of messages regarding current issues like missing and
murdered aboriginal women, pay equity and global health which follow the three
advocacy focuses mentioned above. According to the Hill Times, the organizers are hoping to have lawn signs in the
ground by September 10th.
The federal leaders’
debate is/was to be held on September 15th. As the few news reports
I have seen state, this is the first debate specifically on women’s issues to
be held in 30 years. This doesn’t include sections allotted for and specific
questions regarding women’s issues that have been known to occur occasionally in
the “regular” debates. The last and only other women’s issues debate was held August
15, 1984 (so it really is 31 years ago) between Liberal John Turner,
Progressive Conservative (I actually miss these guys) Brian Mulroney, and New
Democrat Ed Broadbent. You can watch the highlights introduced by Knowlton Nash
at www.cbc.ca/player/Digital+Archives/ID/1848669351/. In the period following the mobilisation of
women around the Charter and its ratification in 1982, having a women’s issue
debate seemed appropriate. Organizations like the National Action Committee
(NAC) appeared at the height of their political influence in Canadian politics.
In retrospect, it seems the last hurrah of Trudeau’s (the elder) “just society”
and the idea of the state not only working with but supporting women’s advocacy
organizations. The aftermath after 1985 was the solidification of neoliberal
values, the turn to small government, the end of state support for group
advocacy, and the decline and eventual disappearance of NAC. So, it’s not at
all surprising that it has been 31 years since we have seen a similar effort to
highlight women and gender issues.
In 1984, the issues
covered were inequality, daycare, the arms race, abortion, pornography and
trust – the usual “women’s issues.” The depressing feature of this is that if
the current debate does go ahead it is very likely that the issues covered will
be inequality, daycare, abortion and trust. Take out the arms race (although
our current government’s hawkish militarism and law and order agenda certainly
has consequences for women) and add eldercare and violence against women and
the discussion points remain remarkably similar.
The fact that the issue
are all too depressingly familiar illustrates that this debate is necessary. It’s
been 44 years since the Royal Commission on the Status of Women reported that
these same issues required concerted government and state action, 13 year later
in 1984 these issues were still significant so as to be addressed in a women’s
issues debate. Just because 31 years have elapsed without a women’s issues
debate does not mean the issues have been dealt with. Actually it means quite
the opposite. The issues have been rendered invisible in electoral terms. The
needs and concerns associated with 51% of the population have been deemed to be
unworthy of attention. For the missing and murdered aboriginal women and all
the victims of violence against women this invisibility is measured in lives.
Thus, for a federal party leader not to participate in this debate is to agree
that the concerns of half of the Canadian population are not worthy of
attention. It is not a question of complicity, it is actually helping to render
the concerns as unworthy and unimportant.
What to do:
·
Up for Debate can be found at
o
Twitter @UpforDebate2015 #upfordebate
·
Get a lawn sign:
o
I’m assuming contact can be made through
the website or contact a member organization.
·
Tweet Tom Mulcair @ThomasMulcair
o
Tell him to
- o “pull on his big girl panties and debate”
- o “show he cares about Canadian women and debate”
·
And of course, Get informed and vote
Selected References:
Rachel Aiello, “Grit
Leader Trudeau, Green Leader May only two federal leaders in for debate on
women’s issues, Sept 21, Hill Times,
August 4, 2015
Jacquetta Newman. 2008.
"Keeping the Volume," Down on Women's Voices: Women in the 2006
Election Campaign," British Journal
of Canadian Studies, Volume 21, No. 2, Fall 2008.
Michael Wood, “Debate
Appears to be in jeopardy,” Metro News, August 12, 2015.
The Alliance for Women's Rights is:
Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada
Act to End Violence Against Women
Action Canada for Sexual Health and Rights
Action ontarienne contre la violence faite aux femmes
Advancement of Women Halton
Advocates for progressive Childcare Policy Amethyst Women's Addiction Centre
Amnesty International Canada
Amnistie international Canada francophone
Antigonish Women's Resource Centre
Association québécoise des organismes de
coopération internationale
Barbra Schlifer Commemorative Clinic
Basic Income Canada Network
BC Federation of Labour
BC Teachers’ Federation
BC Women’s Network
Breaking the Silence Maritimes-Guatemala Solidarity Network
Business and Professional Women Canada
Campaign 2000: End Child Poverty in Canada
Canada Without Poverty
Canadian Association of Sexual Assault Centres
Canadian Association of Social Workers
Canadian Center for Policy Alternatives
Canadian Council for International Cooperation
Canadian Council of Muslim Women
Canadian Federation of Students
Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions
Canadian Federation of University Women
Canadian Labour Congress
Canadian Network of Women's Shelters & Transition Houses
Canadian Postmasters and Assistants Association
Canadian Research Institute for the Advancement of Women
Canadian Union of Postal Workers
Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE)
Canadian Women's Health Network
Canadians for Tax Fairness
Centre for International Studies and Cooperation (CECI)
Central Nova Scotia Women’s Resource Centre
Central Nova Women’s Resource Centre
Central Toronto Community Health Centres
Child Care Advocacy Association of Canada
Childcare Resource and Research Unit
Citizens for Public Justice
Coalition of Child Care Advocates of B.C
National Coalition of Provincial and Territorial Advisory
Councils on the Status of Women
Comité québécois femmes et développement
Communication Workers of America - Canada
Crossroads International
DisAbled Women's Network Canada
DisAbled Womens Network Ontario
Ending Violence Association of BC
Every Woman’s Centre
Family Service Toronto
Fédération des femmes du Québec
FEM International
Feminist Alliance for International Action
First Call: BC Child and Youth Advocacy Coalition
Girls Action Foundation
Grandmothers Advocacy Network
GROOTS Canada
Harmony House
Inter Pares
Inter-Agency Coalition on AIDS and Development
Interim Place
International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers
International Women's Rights Project
Islamic Social Services Association
Justice for Girls
KAIROS: Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives
Lanark County Interval House
LEA Place Women’s Resource Centre
Les EssentiElles
Make Poverty History
Manitoba Federation of Labour
MATCH International Women's Fund
McLeod Group
National Association of Women and the Law (NAWL)
National Council of Women of Canada
National Union of Public and General Employees
Native Women Inc. Niagara Chapter
Native Women's Association of Canada (NWAC)
Nobel Women's Initiative
North East Women's Health Alliance
Northern Territories Federation of Labour
Northwestern Ontario Women's Centre Ontario Association of Interval & Transition Houses
Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care
Ontario Coalition of Rape Crisis Centres
Ontario Federation of Labour Ontario Network of Sexual Assault /Domestic Violence Treatment Centres in Ontario
Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation
Ottawa Coalition to End Violence Against Women
Ottawa Rape Crisis Centre
Oxfam Canada
Oxfam-Québec
Peel Committee Against Woman Abuse
Prince Edward Island Coalition for Women in Government
Physicians for Global Survival
Pictou County Women’s Centre
Pivot Legal Society
Plan Canada
Provincial Association of Transition Houses and Services of
Saskatchewan
Provincial Council of Women of Ontario
Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC)
Rainy River District Women’s Shelter of Hope
Second Story Women’s Centre
SEIU Healthcare Union
Sexual Assault Centre London
Sistering
South Shore Transition House Assoc.
Springtide Resources Inc. Ending Violence Against Women
St. John's Status of Women Council
Strait Area Women’s Place
The Women’s Place Resource Centre
Transition House Association of Nova Scotia
Tri-County Women’s Centre
Unifor
United Food and Commercial Workers Canada
Vancouver Women's Advisory Committee
Vancouver Women's Health Collective
Vancouver Rape Relief and Women’s Shelter
WAVAW Rape Crisis Centre
West Coast Legal Education and Action Fund
Women at the Centre
Women Transforming Cities
Women’s Action Alliance for Change Nova Scotia
Women’s Centres Connect
Women’s Centre of Calgary
Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF)
Women's Health In Women's Hands Community Health Centre
Women's Network Prince Edward Island
Women Together Ending Poverty
Working for Change
World Federalist Movement - Canada
YWCA Canada
Comments
Post a Comment