Canadians have mixed feelings about women as political leaders

As our southern neighbours are about to make history by confirming Hillary Clinton as the first woman nominee of a major party in the upcoming presidential elections, most Canadians have mixed feelings about women as political leaders, according to a new survey.

The public opinion poll from the Angus Reid Institute finds that while the vast majority of Canadians (84 per cent) say men and women make equally good leaders, just as many say that Canadian society as a whole still believes men are better suited to top political jobs.

“That’s an interesting finding because while it shows that Canadians themselves are professing a particular point of view that is a little bit more rosy in terms of equality,” said Shachi Kurl, executive director of the Angus Reid Institute, “we seem to have a very dim view of what the society at large thinks.”

(click to listen the full interview with Shachi Kurl)

Listen

Moreover, almost 60 per cent of Canadians say it’s easier for men to get elected to high political offices, compared to just 3 per cent who say it’s easier for women, with 38 per cent saying there’s no difference.

There are also significant gender and age divides on whether men or women are more likely to possess the traits typically associated with leadership, Kurl said.

When asked what are some of the particular attributes that men and women have an edge over their counterparts when it comes to political leadership, with the exception of the younger men (18 to 35), Canadians tend to say that women are better at “being honest and ethical,” at being persuasive, working to improve the lives of Canadians, at standing their ground than men, she said.

“That’s quite an interesting finding because again when we asked them to get a little bit more specific and a little bit more thoughtful, generally the feeling is that both genders, both sexes perform equally,” Kurl said.

‘Gender blindness?’

The good news is that there seems to be a greater sense of equality or “gender blindness” among the younger men, she said.

“The other side to that is when you’re looking at representation rates for women in politics that are only one in four, and sometimes less than one in four at the municipal, provincial and federal level across the country in Canada, you find again, there needs, perhaps, be a sense of not just “gender blindness” that we’re all equal that the scale does need to be tipped in a particular direction,” Kurl said.

The survey also showed that Canadians have two main reasons why they think women are not represented in the political sphere, she said.

The first is they don’t think that political parties are doing enough to encourage or support women to run, Kurl said.

The second has to do with a sense of that women don’t run because of family commitments.

“I think if you put those two things together, the takeaway has to be that political parties can’t just talk about having women run as though as they are separate entities or lampposts,” Kurl said. “They need to really create the conditions so that the family or the support network around the woman is as excited about the prospect of seeing their spouse, their mother, their daughter, their partner, or their sister running, so that potential candidate feels as empowered and as supported through the process as a man might feel.”