The 43rd Canadian Parliament once again set a record number of female Members of Parliament, with 98 women elected to the 338-member House of Commons of Canada (28.9%) in the 2019 election.[1] Of those 98 women, 31 were elected for the first time in the 2019 election. 2 more women were elected in by-elections in October 2020, reaching the historic milestone of 100 women in the House of Commons for the first time.[2] This represents a gain of twelve seats over the previous record of 88 women in the 42nd Canadian Parliament. By contrast, the 116th United States Congress had 102 women sitting in the 435-seat United States House of Representatives (23.4%).[3]
| Party | Total women candidates in the 2019 Election | % women of total candidates in the 2019 Election | Total women elected in the 2019 Election | % women elected of total women candidates in the 2019 Election | % women elected of total elected in the 2019 Election | Total women members of the House of Commons at dissolution | % women of members in the House of Commons at dissolution |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Liberal | 133 (of 338) | 39.3% | 52 (of 157) | 39.1% | 33.1% | 54 (of 337) | 16.0% |
| Conservative | 106 (of 338) | 31.4% | 22 (of 121) | 20.8% | 18.2% | 21 (of 337) | 6.2% |
| Bloc Québécois | 36 (of 78) | 46.2% | 12 (of 32) | 33.3% | 37.5% | 12 (of 337) | 3.6% |
| New Democrats | 166 (of 338) | 49.1% | 9 (of 24) | 5.4% | 37.5% | 9 (of 337) | 2.7% |
| Green | 156 (of 336) | 46.4% | 2 (of 3) | 1.3% | 66.6% | 1 (of 337) | 0.3% |
| Independents | 2 (of 337) | 0.6% | |||||
| Total | 98 (of 338) | 29.0% | 99 (of 337) | 29.4% | |||
| Table source:[4] | Table source:[5] and List of House members of the 43rd Parliament of Canada | ||||||
The Canadian Parliament has seen a dramatic increase in the number of women and racialized people that sit in the House of Commons in the last decade. However, the representation of women in the house has not always been key to the government's success. In 1921, the first federal election where the majority of women could vote took place.[6] This was also the year that the very first woman was elected to sit in the House. Although 4 women ran, only one was elected: Agnes Campbell Macphail.[6]
The 2019 Canadian election saw a record number of women in terms of the number of candidates as well as the proportion of women in contrast to all of the candidates. More than 700 of the 2,146 candidates were women, meaning that 34% of candidates identified as Female.[6] It was the first federal election where the data compiled on candidates’ gender identities could possible to be other than a man or woman. Elections Canada data states that 19 of the 2,146 did not state their gender and 5 of the 2,146 candidates identified as a different identity.[6] Since 1968, the percentage of women that have run in the Canadian Federal election has gone up by seven times, and with the 43rd Canadian Parliament setting records for representation, we can see change occurring.[6]
One of the largest reasons why there is not a higher percentage of female candidates is because of the barriers to entry that they face. According to the Library of the Canadian Parliament, there are seven key factors that contribute to the barriers to entry that women face: gender stereotypes and discrimination, lack of confidence in their abilities, insufficient efforts to recruit female candidates, difficulties in financing their campaigns, absence of family-friendly and gender-sensitive workplaces, gender-based violence and harassment, and gender-biased media treatment.[7] These seven reasons, identified by the Government of Canada, are the issues that must be addressed if equality is to be achieved in representation. Similarly, a book written by Newman et al. also noted similar things to be barriers to entry for women into the political landscape in Canada.[8]
The number of women in the Canadian Parliament has been slowly but steadily increasing since the 1980s[9] and has reached its highest point following the 2019 Canadian federal election where women made up 29.6%[10] of the Canadian Parliament which is higher than the global average of 25.5%[11] and very close to the 1995 United Nations goal of 30% female representation in government.[12] In terms of gender representation in government, Canada outperforms a country like the United States in which the House of Representatives is made up of 27.4% women.[10] However, in a country where women make up a slim majority of the population at 50.4% as of 2010,[13] the 43rd Canadian Parliament still falls short when it comes to achieving gender parity in government. Canada also currently ranks 53rd in the world in gender representation in government which is behind the United Kingdom, Sweden, and Rwanda.[10] However, with prominent Canadian political parties like the Liberals Party pledging to include more female representation in government[14] as well as parties like the New Democratic Party putting forward a slate of candidates that was 49% women in the 2019 election,[15] there is significant political pressure to increase the number of women representatives in government.
Canadian Provinces and Territories come much closer to achieving gender parity in their Legislative Assemblies than their federal counterparts. Similar to the rest of Canada in the province of Ontario women make up a little over half of the population at 50.7%[16] but unlike the rest of Canada 35.5% of Ontario Member's of the Legislative Assembly are women.[17] In Quebec, a province where women make up 50.4%[16] of the population, gender parity is even closer to being achieved with women making up 42.4% of the National Assembly.[18] The Northwest Territory has come the closest to achieving gender parity with women making up 48.3%[16] of the population and 47.3% of the Legislative Assembly.[19] The Northwest Territories is also currently the only Province or Territory in Canada that has a female Premier, Caroline Cochrane.[19]