OTTAWA-
Fewer than one in 10 girls and young women in Canada say they’ll ever aspire to be prime minister, according to a new report, which attributes a lack of interest in the federal government’s top job largely to concerns about discrimination and sexism. .
The report, commissioned by the children’s rights organization Plan International, also shows that only 12 per cent of Canadian girls and young women have an interest in being elected officials, let alone prime ministers.
The Canadian numbers are part of a larger global report, which surveyed nearly 29,000 girls and women ages 15 to 24, from 29 countries, to gauge their level of interest in political participation and what barriers they say they face to becoming more involved.
According to Plan International, much of the doubt is due to “gender discrimination, stereotypes and blatant sexism without control”.
“When girls witness the systemic discrimination and abuse our political leaders face, it can deter those who might otherwise have considered getting involved in politics,” Plan International Canada President and CEO Lindsay Glassco said in a statement. a press release on Tuesday. “In the end, we all pay the price because we are missing out on the valuable contributions of girls and young women to making a positive difference in the world.”
When he was first elected in 2015, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made a commitment to gender parity in the cabinet. Now in his third term, the Liberal cabinet is still 50 percent women. But across party lines, there are 103 women MPs overall, around 30 per cent of the total, compared to 234 men, with one seat currently vacant.
And currently none of the recognized federal political parties in the House of Commons have a female leader.
There have been previous initiatives in Canada to encourage women to run for office, including a program called Daughter of the Vote, which in 2017 saw one woman from each of Canada’s 338 trips travel to Ottawa for a week of events, including the experience of a day in the life of an MP, taking their place in the House of Commons and, in some cases, making speeches on various topics.
Parliamentarians have also studied the barriers women face when it comes to political engagement, and have delivered a list of recommendations to remove those barriers in 2019.
Plan International’s survey also found that about a third of Canadian respondents say they “do not believe politics is open to the engagement or participation of young women”, while about half believe that women in public life ” are not treated fairly,” either because they face abuse. and bullying, or because they are judged on their appearance.
Meanwhile, this summer there have been several cases of harassment and threats against Canadian female politicians and journalists, including a viral video of a man verbally harassing Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland.
“Girls and women are not welcome on the political stage and we need to change that,” Glassco said. “They must see themselves as political leaders and actors and we need their voices. It is up to all of us to break down the barriers that prevent girls from participating in political discourse, and it must start long before girls reach voting age.”
The nine per cent of girls and women who say they aspire to be prime minister, and the 12 per cent who say they aspire to elected office in general, contrast sharply with the 96 per cent who said in the survey that participation in politics It is important.
Still, 94 percent say they believe girls and women “can face challenges when trying to get involved in politics.”
Meanwhile, among respondents in the other 28 countries surveyed, the number of women and girls who said they would consider running for office doubled compared to Canada, at 24 percent internationally. And in Canada, 60 percent said they don’t feel confident being an electoral candidate, compared to 50 percent internationally.
With files from Sarah Turnbull of CTV News