Good morning!
This will be my last blog post for my course and on the subject of women and politics. Its been a pleasure to share my thoughts and insights with you. Most of all I have enjoyed learning how to share my content online and the ability to build a website.
I hope my content has inspired or at the very least provoked thought about having more women in politics and finding ways to make that into a reality.
Its 2020, and I live in Canada, and for the first time since 2008, none of the provinces and territories in this country have a female leader. We went from a scenario where more than half of the leaders were female not too long ago, to presently having none.
What happened?
In the last decade, we went on a rollercoaster ride, where we started the decade moving in a very enlightened and progressive manner. Barak Obama was elected in 2008 and inaugurated in 2009. There was a renewed sense of optimism and idealism for the decade ahead. Liberal thinking and ideas started to take centre stage again, and that impact spread across Europe and Canada.
In Ontario, we elected the first opening gay, female Premier, Kathleen Wynne, in 2013. I worked on her campaign and I remember standing on the convention floor when she was selected as leader of the Ontario Liberal Party, and I couldn’t feel more joyous or excited!
The time that I spent in Kathleen Wynne’s government were some of my proudest professional moments. It was mainly because I watched a woman, who was in politics for all the right reasons, making the changes she believed would make Ontario a better place for every person.
She carried herself with the same decency and dignity from the first day to the last day she held office. And to this day she still is a sitting Member of Provincial Parliament for her community of Don Valley West. She could have easily resigned when she lost the Premiership in 2018, but was elected from her community and decided to stay the course and represent the people who put her there.
Why we need women leaders:
The voices and perspectives of women are too important not to be included in the leadership of our provinces and territories. Women can lead and can be exceptional leaders but they need the electorate on side.
The electorate can be persuaded if the media and the content we all share is fair and doesn’t disparage candidates because of their sex.
Don’t get me wrong, we have great champions, but we need more.
Women also need to be supporting women. It isn’t enough to talk about it or post about as I am here, but we need to act on it. Too many times I have seen women not pulling each other up because they are worried about how it will impact their own prospects.
Women helping women is like a good economy. When the economy is doing well, it means that everyone is employed and paying taxes, which means that more opportunities will be generated with more profits and services for everyone. The same philosophy applies when more women are in leadership roles, especially in politics.
I have demonstrated the benefits of women leaders throughout the last 8 blog posts. Lets ensure that in a decades time, we stand at parity with female political leaders in this country and around the globe.
Thank you for supporting this blog. Please feel free to message me with any feedback or on how I could improve my writing and content.
Until next time my sharks, stay safe and healthy!
Some food for thought:
Sara Alimardani 