Canadian Politics

A09(b) - Gender, Political Parties and Parliament

Date: Jun 4 | Time: 08:30am to 10:00am | Location:

Chair/Président/Présidente : Erica Rayment (University of Calgary)

Discussant/Commentateur/Commentatrice : Erica Rayment (University of Calgary)

Gender Identity and Candidate-Self Presentation: Assessing Provincial Election Candidates in Ontario and Quebec: Daniel Westlake (University of Saskatchewan), Jacob Robbins-Kanter (Bishop's University), Claire Mountford (Queen's University)
Abstract: Political parties are under increasing pressure to account for gender diversity in their nominating practices and recent provincial elections have seen record numbers of women candidates elected. Candidates with different gender identities face distinct stereotypes and expectations with respect to how they present themselves to voters. This paper examines local candidate biographies from the 2022 Ontario and Quebec provincial elections, to test how gender identity affects other identities that candidates may choose to emphasize when campaigning. Drawing from 976 candidate biographies from these two elections, we examine how gender influences the likelihood of a candidate referencing their family, educational attainment, ties to the local community, or their ethnic identity. We also examine how such effects are conditioned by party ideology and the province the candidate is running in, to shape the way that candidates present themselves to voters.

Leaky Pipelines? Gender, Sector Employment, and Electoral Politics: Dawn Moffat McMaster (University of Calgary)
Abstract: How does sector employment (public, private, and nonprofit) shape political candidacy and electability? Does the nonprofit sector, where women are overrepresented, produce more diversity in candidate pools and among elected officials than the private and public sectors? In the candidate pipeline, contestants move from eligibility to nomination and selection as the candidate to the election itself. Nonprofits can encourage political ambition for potential candidates in occupation-motivated interest/identity activation (stages 1 and 2). Such eligible groups should be ideal targets for party recruitment, with high political capital in knowledge and networks (stages 2 and 3). Voters use occupation as a resume cue (stage 4), especially in low-information situations. Private sector experience cues long-standing stereotypes of business acumen, while the public sector cues managerial strength associated with unions. These are likely to affect political ambition, political elites, and the voting public, with effects at all stages of the pipeline, but sector employment effects have not been studied. Canada is a crucial case here. The nonprofit sector is unique among OECD countries, providing direct services with combined state and philanthropic funding. If the sector is a pipeline, it should be especially accessible to diverse women because nonprofit employment is distinctly gendered. Women are overrepresented at all levels, from front-line positions to executive suites. While men are overrepresented in the private sector and women are reaching parity in the public sector, the nonprofit sector offers a new path for women to acquire the skills and policy knowledge necessary for competitive candidacy.

Who Benefits? How Working for an MP Shapes Opportunities for Men and Women Political Staffers: Meagan Cloutier (University of Calgary)
Abstract: In Parliament, more Members of Parliament (MPs) with prior political staff experience have been elected over time. Having experience as a political staffer, then, is becoming an increasingly important pipeline to elected office. This paper investigates whether and how men political staffers benefit from working for a Member of Parliament compared to women political staffers. Drawing on a survey of MPs (n=97) and a survey of federal political staffers (n=366), the paper first describes how MPs structure their constituency and parliament hill offices. This paper then analyzes the gender differences in employment practices and working conditions, and whether this leads to differences in the cultivation of political staffers’ political talent. Understanding whether political staffers are awarded opportunities could begin to understand how staffer positions are used for candidate recruitment within Canadian political parties, and whether men political staffers benefit from working for an MP in ways that differ for women political staffers.