Canadian women have satisfactory political freedoms, equal legal rights, and equal opportunities in education and economics compared with much of the rest of the world. These women enjoy these advantages as a result of decades of relentless agitations and activism within government and outside government. The advantages that they fought and won included; right to vote and vie for elective office, and to be recognized under Canadian law. These women activists were succeed by insisting that women qualified and had equal rights to be involved in Canadian democratic processes. To a larger extent, the activists managed to secure Canadian women’s comprehensive equality under Canadian law. Today, Canadian women have equal voting rights similar to men and are not weighed down by formal barriers to running the elective office (Sharpe, p. 7).
Canadian women enjoy various freedoms for years under Canadian law as a result of women’s movement activism. Through the efforts of these activists, Canada enacted the “Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms” and numerous human rights legislations that deterred discrimination explicitly based on gender. These women participate in elections on equal footing as men and do not face constraints to serving in elective offices. Women in Canada have served in offices such as the Supreme Court of Canada and the office of Prime Minister. In terms of educational development, Canadian women enrolled in numbers as students in Canadian higher institutions and have joined male-dominated occupations. The gap that existed of women’s earnings compared to males has decreased substantially compared to statistics in many countries. Additionally, Canadian women are able to access universal medical care services and are in full control of their reproductive functions (Andrew, p. 42).
Participation and representation of women in the Canadian political process have increased steadily over the last decade. However, it remains low compared to other countries and to the proportionate democratic representation of women in the Canadian population. Voting is the basic form of women’s participation in the formal political process in Canada. Until the 1920s, most Canadian women had been denied this fundamental right. Canadian women in Quebec realized this right in the 1940s, while Aboriginal women got this right in the 1960s. Initially, voting turnout among women was lower compared to the males. However, women’s turn out to vote has increased substantially since the 1970s and has surpassed men (Sharpe, p. 7).
In Canada, women make up over half of the Canadian electorate and have a slight advantage of being inclined to vote over men. Theoretically, Canadian women have an advantage numerically to exercise control over the Canadian political process. However, Canadian women have not managed to realize this theoretical possibility. Women in Canadian society do not vote as a bloc. The fundamental political perspective of Canadian women differs substantially, and so does their political interests and voting behavior. This has bred an electoral ‘gender gap’ in the voting behavior of men and women in Canada. Canadian men are more likely are likely to vote in parties that are conservative, that is, on the right. Women, on the other hand, are likely to vote for parties on the center or left. This depicts sustained gender imbalance patterns, especially in policy attitudes. Their participation in the political process has gradually eradicated discrimination of the vulnerable groups in workplaces over time. The gender gaps in voting have provided a source of influence to Canadian women. Feminists in Canada have converted the gender gap into a political resource. For instance, the Canadian Liberal Democratic Party tends to receive more female support historically compared to the feminist NDP political party, benefiting from the existing gender gaps. This comes as a result of differences among Canadian eligible voters (Young, p. 202).
Women’s participation in politics and development in Canada has had a tremendous impact on Canadian society. Waves of women’s movements and activism have seen Canadian women develop positions of strength abetted by other forces in Canadian society. Their participation and involvement have led to useful changes in law, procedures, and policies within Canada. Women’s efforts to participate in Canadian politics have made significant progress. Besides enhanced numbers of women holding elective offices, Canadian women have also been elected leaders in parties, serving in cabinet portfolios (Young, p. 202).
In the last 20 years, Canadian women have achieved a significant level of success in creating for themselves an open space in society and attaining a new sense of freedom, autonomy, and dignity despite all odds. Moreover, Canadian women have realized these changes with a relative minimum of confrontation with the state and society. They put Canada on a solid footing in terms of having solid indicators capable of measuring social evolution as it has made important adjustments in gender relations. In sum, despite constraints faced by women in Canadian elections, there is a great impact in the number of women in Canadian city councils, provincial assemblies, and the Canadian House of Commons. The enhanced numbers have transformed these institutions bringing into force new issues into Canadian political discourse (Young, p. 202).
References
- Andrew, Rogers. Women and Canadian State. Montreal: McGill Queen’s Press, 1997.
- Charles, Campling. Feminism, The State, and Social Policy. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2000.
- Kelly, Bayes, Hawkesworth, Young. Gender Globalization and Democratization. Boston: Rowman and Littlefield, 2001.
- Roy, Tiedell, Blomquist. Economic Development and Women in the World Community. New York: Greenwood Publishing.
- Sharpe, McMahon. The Persons Case. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2007
- Steans, J. Gender and International Relations. Cambridge: Polity, 2006.
- Young, Lisa. Feminists and Party Politics. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2000.