Governed by Women

[tenni]

“The old boys’ club that once was the Council of the Federation (http://www.councilofthefederation.ca/en/) is no more — women now run the show because they rule the biggest provinces.

When Canada’s provincial and territorial leaders gather for their annual conference (http://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2013/07/23/kathleen_wynne_should_put_weather_atop_agenda_at_p remiers_meeting.html) this week in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont., they will make some political history.

More than 87 per cent of Canadians are governed by female premiers — in Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia, Alberta, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Nunavut.

“It makes it historic and I’m aware of that,” Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne told the Star on Tuesday.

Since last year’s conference in Halifax, Wynne has succeeded Dalton McGuinty and Quebec Premier Pauline Marois has replaced Jean Charest.
That means 30.5 million of the nation’s 34.9 million people — or seven out of eight Canadians — live in provinces and territories run by women. “

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2013/07/23/kathleen_wynne_to_chair_historic_premiers_conferen ce_where_women_run_the_show.html


It will be interesting to see if this makes Premier meetings more productive. For years I've been reading that things would be different if women were in charge. To add more interest to this scenario, Kathryn Wynne is not only the Premier of the largest province but she is a former professional mediator , lesbian and married to a woman. Very interesting times in Canada. Then again, we have a major control freak man as Prime Minister.

What about your country's leaders of provinces/states as far as gender of the leaders are concerned?

[lone-wolf]

I feel it is finally time that women assume there rightful place as leaders. for years they have had to be in the back ground. it is great that there are so meany women premiers now we just need to have a woman prime minister. and as far as Kathryn Wynne being the first openly gay Premier thats awsome to.

[darkeyes]

It is nice to see, tenni.. but as such whether a national or provincial pm or governor is man or woman should not concern us so much... best person for the job right? Problem has historically been than such is the discrimination against women that they have been and are debarred in one way or t'otha from the top jobs in politics.. and in the UK it is returning to the bad old days when Eton rules and women wash up.. the current government are returning more and more women to the home and putting up higher and more resilient barriers to prevent women from attaining power in politics or business.. and I accuse both parties of government of that, not simply the Conservative party..

...women of political, industrial, business or judicial influence are being replaced in ever greater numbers and the UK is returning to be the old misogynistic, sexist society it has historically always been.. social and economic policies are increasingly anti women... we may have theoretical and legal equality.. but the reality is somewhat different.. even in my own party.. the Labour Party, there seems to be an increasing misogyny at the grass roots level which as yet has not surfaced fully at the national level and is something that the Labour Party will have to look at and deal with..

.. but good onya Canada:bigrin:... lets hope it can last.. but I do not wish there to be more female leaders of parties, provincial or national governments necessarily... just that women get a fair shake... Canada seems to be going in the right direction, and whether by accident or design u would know better than I.. in the UK the opposite is happening:(... and it is very definitely by design:eek2:... what is important iis not that a premier is man or woman but that he, or she is committed to true equality of opportunity for all irrespective of gender (among other things) and opposes unfair discrimination from with his or her own party, province or country.. it is not what a leader is.. nor is it what a leader says which is important, but what a leader does and how she or he acts...

[tenni]

darkeyes
The interesting thing that may contradict your beliefs is that these women are not of the same political persuasion. Quebec's Pauline Marlois is a separatist and leader of the Parti Quebecois which is a separation / severing the country perspective. Quebec "plays" with sovereignty and gets its way on several political points. One interesting thing that I noticed about having this woman as Premier during the recent tragic disasterious train derailment with so many dead is how she reacted. She was there within 24 hours. I noticed her hugging and touching people in the photos. I don't think that male leaders go about that touchy way. Premier Marlois was there ahead of the Prime Minister and went twice to the site within less than five days. She was very quick to set up provincial financial help and the feds are still not specific as to what financial help they will give. Similarly, the female leader of Alberta was quick to state financial help for flood victims. Maybe, the female leaders have more empathy for victims of tragedy than male leaders? The male Prime Minister was quick to offer support to his home province though..but not Quebec as I recall.

Alberta has a Conservative female leader while BC and Ontario have Liberal female leaders. Alberta's and BC's female Premiers have had an open dispute over an oil pipeline. They were hostile towards each other but not personally. Then they seem to resolve their dispute but I'm not sure how/why? They still don't agree (I think) on the pipeline issue but have toned down their rhetoric.

Remember the people elected these women and for some reason this has happened in the past three years. What has made Canadians gender blind when selecting leaders lately? I don't know what has caused the shift at the provincial levels but not the federal levels. There are no female federal leaders of the main parties.

In Ontario, Wynne's party put her there and she has not yet had to face the people in a provincial election. Wynne in Ontario was given a testy scenario of accusations of financial mismanagement of her previous Premier. She may lose the next general election. She claims not to know anything about the scandal. Canada has had a female Prime Minister who I am reminded of the similarity of Wynne. Both women were placed in power followed by a scandal. PM Kim Cambell lost very badly but it really was her male predessor (PM Mulroney) who created the bad scenario. I wonder if the ol boy network really has set them up? So far Wynne is staying in power but it is less than a eight months since she was placed there. I guess I am pondering if the ol boy network is still functioning?

I'm not sure if the gender of the leader matters like you believe. I wonder if it does and suspect that it might. I am unaware of places where there has been female domination of leadership. I would think that if it has happened it might be in places like Scandinavia?

[darkeyes]

darkeyes
The interesting thing that may contradict your beliefs is that these women are not of the same political persuasion. Quebec's Pauline Marlois is a separatist and leader of the Parti Quebecois which is a separation / severing the country perspective. Quebec "plays" with sovereignty and gets its way on several political points. Not at all.. not as such.. the party doesnt matter.. what a person does and how he or she leads is what matters.. of course there will be men and women who lead parties and governments I will oppose because they are fundamentally at odds with the things I believe in.. that's how it goes.. not everyone agrees with me.. many disagree and that will always be the case. My point is that those who have power should not discriminate unfairly... whether it be economically, socially or politically.. judicially... we will always argue about what that means but that's fine..

I am socialist and so have a certain viewpoint about all of these things... I am no nationalist, neither am I a patriot, I am no capitalist and no racist or xenophobe, no warmonger.. Thatcher for instance was all of these things which is why she is so loathed by so many in the UK... she was also a sexist.. but not a sexist against men.. but against her own gender... she was a class warrior and vindictive against any who took issue with what she believed.. and her attitudes and beliefs are carried on to this day by Cameron and his buddies...

I have already said the gender of a leader does not matter.. not as such.. what matters is what he or she believes... and what he or she does... and women have not and do not dominate the political leadership of Scandinavia.. they have however had a much more fair deal... and in my opinion that is why those societies are far fairer and more compassionate than for instance my own ...

[ghost_of_bluebiyou]

I would like to see female majority in fundamentalist Islamic countries first.
Especially those based in Shia (Shi'ite) law.

That would be progress!

[darkeyes]

I would like to see female majority in fundamentalist Islamic countries first.
Especially those based in Shia (Shi'ite) law.

That would be progress!
Aaahh.. so we do nothing until others do, hey? That's progress??? Maybe we should have done nothing and waited in just the same way for others to make progress on the rights of the lgbt, hey, Blue?