Chapter 15 Review Questions

As of 2019, there is a record number of women in parliament, comprising 29%, or 98 of 338 seats. Only one of the party leaders, Elizabeth May of the Green Party, is female, although she has recently announced that she will step down from this role, and while her replacement is unclear, the interim leader Jo-Anne Robert is also female. In 2013 five of 10 provincial premiers, representing 85 per cent of the country’s population, were women, but as of 2019, this number has fallen to zero, as all provincial premiers are male. Moreover, women are more likely to vote than their male counterparts in every age cohort except the oldest voters, over the age of 65.

On two levels. On the psychological level, the evidence suggests that the failure of society to recognize the value of domestic work and child-rearing has generated a sense of low self-esteem and frustration among women. Further, the consciousness that is likely to be produced by the traditional roles of women is not likely to generate the motivations, interests and personal resources for political activism. With respect to status and professional achievements, women have traditionally been underrepresented in the occupations from which political office-holders are typically drawn. And even when they have made it in those occupations, the expectation is that they will take time out from their professional work to care for children and home, thus placing them in a disadvantageous position with respect to men.

The principal arguments were as follows: (1) The subjection of women to men is natural; (2) The rule of men over women is accepted voluntarily by women; (3) Granting equal rights to women will not promote the interests of society; (4) It is questionable what good can come from extending full legal and political rights to women. Mill’s refutations, in brief, are as follows: (1) This is a common explanation for subjugation; what is called “natural” turns out to be merely customary; (2) This is not true; some do not accept subordination and if the majority do it is because from their earliest years women are trained in the habits of submission; (3) This really means that equality will not promote the interests of male society; it is only an argument of self-interest and convenience; (4) Lots of good will come to women themselves; in addition, society benefits from competition for any particular vocation; society loses when any group is barred from contributing its talents; finally, equality for women would improve the character of men because they would be freed of a false sense of superiority.

The relationship was one of distrust. This was due to two reasons. One was the fact that the parties themselves were often dismissive of and hostile to women’s concerns and the spokeswomen themselves. The second was that the women’s movement was issue-based. The core organizations of the women’s movement took hard, uncompromising stands, unlike political parties who emphasized loyalty to the party and the brokering of the views of the different groups in society.

The much greater willingness to talk about sexuality opened the way for public debate on such matters as reproductive rights, women’s control over their bodies, pornography and violence against women, and sexual stereotyping in the media and education. Once these questions were opened up, traditional gender roles and stereotypes could be challenged and the argument that these were social constructions—not facts of nature—gained credibility.

Brooks notes that the protest politics of the 1960s created a certain climate in which there was a tendency to see all established power relations as unjust. Thus, women intellectuals were likely to have a receptive audience when they explained and articulated the grievances of women. The fact that Canada already had experience with affirmative action meant that the logic of affirmative action was already legitimized. The arguments and policies that were pioneered in the US in the case of Blacks and in Canada in the case of linguistic minorities were borrowed by women’s groups to substantial effect.

Prior to the Charter, women’s groups had no success in the courts, with the notable exception of the Persons’ case. Since the Charter, the results have been mixed for women. In the first four years of the Charter, 44 cases of sexual discrimination under s. 15 were determined by the courts. Most of these cases were instigated by or on behalf of men. Only nine cases were equality claims made by women. Women were victorious in only some of these cases. Still, there were decisions that were major victories for women, including decisions on abortion and pay equity.

It has operated through two channels. First, it operated through the budget of the Secretary of State for the Status of Women, within Heritage Canada. Similar public funding is also available from provincial governments. Secondly, it operated through social spending from the transfers that Ottawa sends to the provinces. Much of the money that funds rape crisis centres, counselling centres, halfway houses for battered women, etc. is from the budgets of the Canada Health Transfer and the Canada Social Transfer.

One is that ambition continues to be seen as more of a masculine than feminine trait, admired in men but viewed with alarm when displayed by a woman. A second is the difficulty that women have balancing the demands of a high-powered job with family commitments. This kind of balancing is not expected of men.

The general opposition of the women’s movement to globalization has to do with the fact that a relative decline in the power of states and an increase in that of markets and transnational corporations, from which women are largely excluded, tend to reduce the political clout of women’s groups.

The gender similarities hypothesis was advanced by psychologist Janet Shibley Hyde and proposes that differences between men and women are marginal in terms of cognitive ability, verbal and non-verbal communications, aggression, leadership, self-esteem, moral reasoning, and motor behaviours.

After World War II, many women began working in roles in the service economy: clerical, secretarial, cashier, food service, and other related roles. They were underpaid for their work because of the conventional belief that these roles were merely supplemental to the (traditionally male) breadwinner’s income.

Brooks outlines two main reasons why women seldom used the courts for sexual inequality claims: (1) dismal track record in the courts; such cases often resulted in defeats, and (2) high costs; these cases were often only heard by the courts because lawyers took on the case for free.

The number of women in voting and campaigning is similar to men, but Bashevkin indicates that in more demanding activities such as running for or holding higher office, the presence of women is significantly lower. The gap has decreased over time, but still very much exists.

Some of Moyser’s observations include: women work less hours than men and are more likely to work part-time; they are also more likely to interrupt their careers, both as a result of having and caring for children. Female-dominated professions tend to be compensated at lower wage rates than those dominated by males.

The biological differences between men and women were used to exaggerate the differences between them. Biological differences were said to account for their different personality traits, intellectual aptitudes, general abilities, and social roles. Over time, it has been demonstrated that the supposed differences between males and females are much less significant than used to be believed. The differences that were said to exist were the result of social learning, not the result of inherent characteristics.

Check the websites of the organizations listed in the textbook. Note the mission or vision statements and the activities in which they engage. Make a political assessment of these statements and activities (e.g., are they on the left or right of the political spectrum? Are their activities traditional or non-traditional? Are they endorsed or supported by “establishment” individuals? Do they align with a particular political party?). To determine visibility, you can review newspapers for a period of time or inquire from the group itself whether it is active in your community.

To answer this question it is important to establish this under-representation in the corporate elite in Canada by utilizing statistics that show the involvement of women on corporate boards. Next it may be beneficial to compare Canada’s results with those of country’s from other jurisdictions. Finally, it may be beneficial to offer suggestions to help in mitigating the effects of gender on upward corporate success.

To answer this question, you can use information from the textbook but you may also wish to conduct your own research. Brooks notes that in Canada, tactics used by suffragists were less extreme than in the US or UK, where hunger strikes or women chaining themselves to buildings were common tactics. New Zealand was the first country to grant women the vote in 1893, while the US, UK, Canada, and other countries, including the Netherlands, all gave women the right to vote between 1917 and 1920.

Answers will vary based on the strategies that you brainstorm. Be creative! It may be particularly useful to examine the ways in which women are left out of higher-ranking political roles and why, in order to propose potentially effective solutions.