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Representational Gains of Canadian Women or Token Growth? The Case of Quebec's Municipal Politics*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 November 2009

Elisabeth Gidengil  and
Richard Vengroff
Elisabeth Gidengil
Affiliation:
McGill University
Richard Vengroff
Affiliation:
University of Connecticut
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Abstract

Using data on women's representation at the municipal level in Quebec over the 1985–1995 period, this article questions the assumption that there are few barriers to women's access to elected office at the local level. While the number of female mayors and councillors in Quebec's cities has increased significantly, the authors find that many councils have either no women or only a token female presence. The more desirable the council seat, the less likely women are to have achieved a significant level of representation. The general weakness of community characteristics and political structures in explaining variation in women's representation points to the presence of more systemic barriers.

Résumé

S'appuyant sur des données sur la représentation des femmes dans les administrations municipales du Québec durant la période 1985 à 1995, cet article récuse l'hypothèse selon laquelle il y a peu d'obstacles à l'accès des femmes à des charges publiques a l'échelon local. Même si le nombre de mairesses et de conseillères municipales dans les villes du Québec a sensiblement augmenté, les auteurs constatent que de nombreux conseils municipaux ne comptent pas de conseillères ou seulement une conseillère symbolique. Plus le fait de siéger au sein du conseil est souhaitable, moins les femmes ont de chances d'y être repréentées. Les caractéristiques communautaires et les structures politiques expliquent mal cet écart dans la représentation des femmes et signale la présence d'obstacles plus systémiques.

Type
Research Article
Information
Canadian Journal of Political Science/Revue canadienne de science politique , Volume 30 , Issue 3 , September 1997 , pp. 513 - 537
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Political Science Association (l'Association canadienne de science politique) and/et la Société québécoise de science politique 1997

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References

1 This may be changing: see Kushner, Joseph, Siegel, David and Stanwick, Hannah, “Ontario Municipal Elections: Voting Trends and Determinants of Electoral Success in a Canadian Province,” this Journal 30 (1997), 539–53.Google Scholar We focus strictly on numerical representation in this article. On the larger meaning of women's representation, see Chantal Maillé, “Challenges to Representation: Theory and the Women's Movement in Quebec,” and Vickers, Jill, “Toward a Feminist Understanding of Representation,” in Arscott, Jane and Trimble, Linda, eds., In the Presence of Women: Representation in Canadian Governments (Toronto: Harcourt Brace, 1997), 47–63Google Scholar and 20–46, respectively.

2 See, for example, Arend, Sylvie and Chandler, Celia, “Which Distinctiveness? Politicians,” Women & Politics 16 (1996), 1–29CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Cleavages, Major and the Career Paths of Canadian Male and Female MacIvor, Heather, Women and Politics in Canada (Peterborough: Broadview, 1996Google Scholar); and Desrochers, Lucie, Femmes et democratie de représentation (Quebec City: Conseil du statut de la femme, 1994Google Scholar).

3 Andrew, Caroline, “Getting Women's Issues on the Municipal Agenda: Violence against Women,” in Garber, Judith A. and Turner, Robyne S., eds., Gender in Urban Research, Urban Affairs Annual Review 42 (Thousand Oaks: Sage, 1995), 99.Google Scholar

4 Ibid.

5 For useful reviews of the arguments, see Andrew, Caroline, “Le pouvoir local: stratégie de pouvoir ou nouvelle impasse pour les femmes?” in L'égalité: les moyens pour y arriver (Quebec: Les publications du Québec, 1991), 63–75Google Scholar; and Vickers, Jill McCalla and Brodie, M. Janine, “Canada,” in Lovenduski, Joni and Hills, Jill, eds., The Politics of the Second Electorate: Women and Public Administration (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1981), 52–82.Google Scholar

6 Andrew, “Le pouvoir local.”

7 Vallance, Elizabeth, “Where Power Is, Women Are Not,” Parliamentary Affairs 35 (1982), 218–19.Google Scholar See Darcy, Robert, Welch, Susan and Clark, Janet, Women, Elections and Representation (2nd ed.; Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1994Google Scholar).

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9 See Zimmer, Lynn, “Tokenism and Women in the Workplace: The Limits of Gender-Neutral Theory,” Social Problems 35 (1988), 64–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

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12 See Karnig, Albert K. and Walter, B. Oliver, “Election of Women to City Councils,” Social Science Quarterly 56 (1976), 605–13.Google Scholar The increased costs of campaiging may reinforce women's disadvantage in larger cities. See Bullock, Charles S. III and MacManus, Susan A., “Municipal Structure and the Election of Councilwomen,” Journal of Politics 53 (1991), 75–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar This may apply less in Quebec given the spending limits and provision for 50 per cent reimbursement of successful candidates’ expenses.

13 See Bullock and MacManus, “Municipal Electoral Structure,” and Darcy et al., Women, Elections and Representation. The empirical results have been mixed. To the extent that any relationship has been found in the US studies, the cosmopolitanism thesis has won out over the desirability thesis.

14 Darcy et al., Women, Elections and Representation, 104–18.

15 Karnig, Albert K., “Black Resources and City Council Representation,” Journal of Politics 41 (1979), 145.CrossRefGoogle Scholar On the impact of income on women's ability to hold local office, see Lee, Marcia, “Toward Understanding Why Few Women Hold Public Office: Factors Affecting the Participation of Women in Local Politics,” in Githens, Marianne and Prestage, Jewel L., eds., A Portrait of Marginality: The Political Behaviour of the American Woman (New York: David McKay, 1977Google Scholar).

16 The focus on inter-minority competition derives from Sigelman, Lee, “The Curious Case of Women in State and Local Government,” Social Science Quarterly 56 (1976), 591–604.Google Scholar

17 For example, Karnig, Albert K. and Welch, Susan, “Sex and Ethnic Differences in Municipal Representation,” Social Science Quarterly 60 (1979), 465–81Google Scholar; and Alozie and Manganaro, “Women's Council Representation.”

18 For example, Darcy et al., Women, Elections and Representation.

19 Maillé, Chantal, Les Québécoises et La Conquête du Pouvoir Politique (Montreal: Éditions St. Martin, 1990Google Scholar).

20 Alozie and Manganaro, “Women's Council Representation,” 386.

21 See Welch, Susan and Karnig, Albert K., “Correlates of Female Office Holding in City Politics,” Journal of Politics 41 (1979), 478–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

22 Alozie and Manganaro, “Women's Council Representation.”

23 See Hunter, Alfred A. and Denton, Margaret A., “Do Female Candidates ‘Lose Votes’? The Experience of Female Candidates in the 1979 and 1980 Canadian General Elections,” Canadian Review of Sociology and Anthropology 21 (1984), 395–406.CrossRefGoogle Scholar Kushner and his colleagues found that gender per se had no significant effect on electoral success in their study of selected Ontario municipalities. See “Ontario Municipal Elections”; Studlar, Donley T. and Welch, Susan, “Understanding the Iron Law of Andrarchy,” Comparative Political Studies 20 (1987), 174–91CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and Welch, Susan and Studlar, Donley T., “The Effects of Candidate Gender on Voting for Local Office in England,” British Journal of Political Science 18 (1988), 273–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

24 See Bullock and MacManus, “Municipal Electoral Structure.”

25 Ibid. It is important to distinguish between male and female incumbency since, by definition, female incumbency will be associated with the presence of women on council.

26 Karnig and Walter, “Election of Women.” In the US studies, it turns out that partisanship does not have significant effects, and the effects, such as they are, have been positive.

27 Tardy, Evelyne, La politique: un monde d'hommes? (Montreal: Hurtubise HMH, 1982), 34–35Google Scholar; Quesnel, Louise and Belley, Serge, Partis politiques municipaux (Montréal: Éditions Agence D'ARC, 1991Google Scholar); and Tindal, C. Richard and Tindal, Susan, Local Government in Canada (4th ed.; Toronto: McGraw-Hill Ryerson, 1995), 274.Google Scholar

28 Based on figures derived from Directeur Général des élections du Québec, Liste des 75 partis politiques municipaux autorisé au 18 avril 1996 (Sainte-Foy: Gouvernement du Québec, 1996Google Scholar).

29 Andrew, “Le pouvoir local,” 67.

30 See Welch and Karnig, “Correlates of Female Office-Holding.”

31 See Studlar, Donley T. and Welch, Susan, “The Party System and the Representation of Women in English Metropolitan Boroughs,” Electoral Studies 11 (1992), 62–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

32 See Maillé, Les Québécoises. On the efforts of municipal parties in recent years to recruit women to run for council, see Tardy, Evelyne, Maires et mairesses du Québec: differences et ressemblances, note de recherche numéro 51 (Montreal: Université du Québec à Montréal, 1995), 4.Google Scholar

33 While Quebec women gained the right to run for elected office only in 1940 and there were economic restrictions on the right to run for municipal office as late as 1974 (see Maillé, Les Québécoises, 50–51), Quebec is clearly no representational backwater: 21 per cent of Quebec's MPs are women (compared with 18 per cent for Canada as a whole) and nearly one in five of MNAs are women (see Arend and Chandler, “Which Distinctiveness?”).

34 See, for example, Maillé, Les Québécoises; Tardy, La politique; Tardy, Maires et mairesses; and Tremblay, Manon and Pelletier, Réjean, Que font-elles en politique (Sainte Foy: Les Presses de l'Université Laval, 1995Google Scholar).

35 The information in this paragraph comes from Ministére des Affaires municipales, Répertoire des Municipalités du Québec 1996 (Sainte Foy: Les Publications du Québec, 1996Google Scholar).

36 Tardy, Maires et Mairesses du Québec; Tardy, La Politique; and Pelletier, Lyse, “En toute égalité,” Municipalité 25 (1993), 31.Google Scholar

37 Data were collected on all urban municipalities. The n's reported throughout this study vary slightly because of missing data.

38 Andrew, Caroline, “Recasting Political Analysis for Canadian Cities,” in Amit-Talai, Vered and Lustiger-Thaler, Henri, eds., Urban Lives (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1994), 53–119.Google Scholar

39 The information came from Ministère des Affaires municipales, Répertoire des Municipalités du Québec (Sainte Foy: Les Publications du Québec) for 1985, 1990, 1995 and 1996.Google Scholar

40 Pelletier, Lyse, Rapport d'évaluation des programmes d'access à l'égalité dans le milieu municipal (Quebec City: Ministère des Affaires municipales, 1990Google Scholar); and Pelletier, Lyse, La situation de l'emplois des femmes dans le milieu municipal (Quebec City: Ministère des Affaires municipales, 1994Google Scholar).

41 Kanter, “Some Effects of Proportions,” 968.

42 See Alozie and Manganaro, “Women's Council Representation.”

43 Tardy, Maires et mairesses, 11.

44 Lessard, Valérie, “Aucune femme élu a Aylmer,” Le Droit (Ottawa), November 6, 1995, 5.Google Scholar

45 These categories were used because the Ministry of Municipal Affairs specifically singles out cities of 2,000 population and below and 20,000 and above for political and administrative purposes. The two intermediate categories roughly correspond to categories used by the ministry in grouping data.

46 See Sancton, Andrew and Woolner, Paul, “Full-Time Municipal Councillors: A Strategic Challenge for Canadian Urban Governments,” Canadian Public Administration 33 (1990), 482–505.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

47 Population size was logged to minimize the statistical effects of skewness.

48 Andrew, “Le pouvoir local,” 65–66. She suggests that female councillors who are linked to specific women's groups can at least assure that certain feminist issues get a hearing. On the other hand, control of councils by local business interests means that the municipal level of government may not prove very useful in representing the interests of women. See Andrew, Caroline, “Mouvement de femmes et développement local: volontés et contraintes,” in Gagnon, C., Klein, J.-L., Tremblay, M. and Tremblay, P.-A., eds., Le Local en mouvements (Chicoutimi: GRIR, 1989), 159–60Google Scholar; and Andrew, “Getting Women's Issues on the Municipal Agenda.”

49 It might be objected that the 33 per cent criterion is too stringent for the four largest councils, each of which has at least 20 members. Our results hold even when these cases are dropped. US studies typically use the proportion of council seats held by women to measure women's representation in local politics, but with 85 per cent of Quebec city councils having six or eight members, the pro-portions are too affected by council size to treat representation as a continuous variable.

50 See Aldrich, John H. and Nelson, Forrest D., Linear Probability, Logit, and Probit Models (Beverly Hills: Sage, 1984CrossRefGoogle Scholar).

51 Otherwise logged population was used since the relationship between city size and 33 per cent female presence in Table 3 was approximately linear and there was no size effect for female mayor.

52 In fact, the effects reported in Table 4 do not hold when the threshold is lowered to 10 per cent, suggesting that the minority presence does indeed have to be substantial for its effects to be felt.

53 The sociodemographic data were taken from Statistics Canada, 1991 Census of Canada, Profile of Census Divisions and Subdivisions in Quebec (Ottawa: Industry, Science and Technology Canada, 1994Google Scholar), part B, vols. 1 and 2. The information on municipal political parties was derived from Directeur Général des élections du Québec, “Liste des 75 partis politiques municipaux autorisés au 18 avril, 1996” (Quebec City: Centre de Renseignements 1996). All other data come from Répertoire des municipalités du Québec (see note 35).

54 This holds true whether those cities are situated within a major urban area (communauté urbaine) or not (municipalité régionale de comté).

55 Indeed, the coefficient for large city size shrinks only slightly when the labour force variables are added to the equation, the uncontrolled coefficient being 1.03.

56 Analyses using median family income and women's median income confirmed that a city's affluence is unrelated to the presence of women in municipal politics.

57 There is a sizeable correlation (.62) between women's labour force participation and women's presence in managerial and administrative occupations. While this might make for some instability in the respective coefficients, the contrast in effects holds when each is entered alone.

58 Tardy, Maires et mairesses. The lack of other significant correlates of the presence of a female mayor parallels Welch and Karnig's results for the US (see “Correlates of Female Office-Holding”).

59 To ensure that outliers were not having a disproportionate effect, we re-ran the analysis excluding the four cities with councils of 20 members or more. The results were unchanged.

60 Alozie and Manganaro, “Women's Council Representation.”

61 One reason the RCM/MCM was able to have a high proportion of women elected to the Montreal city council was that it was a new party, so there were few districts which were already spoken for (Maillé, Les québécoises). Since incumbency rates are fairly low, the importance of this as an obstacle is less than might otherwise be the case.

62 Whether entered separately or in combination with at-large elections to capture the single-member versus multimember distinction, multimember “quartier” elections have no impact. See Studlar, Donley T. and Welch, Susan, “Does District Magnitude Matter? Women Candidates in London Local Elections,” Western Political Quarterly 44 (1991), 457–66CrossRefGoogle Scholar, and Welch, Susan and Studlar, Donley T., “Multimember Districts and the Representation of Women: Evidence from Britain and the United States,” Journal of Politics 52 (1990), 391–412CrossRefGoogle Scholar, who found only small and inconsistent effects in British local elections.

63 On the differences between le Parti Civique and the RCM/MCM in the 1970s and 1980s, see Maillé, Les Québécoises.

64 Welch and Karnig, “Correlates of Female Office-Holding.”

65 These cities may be atypical, because it is in these cities that there is the greatest potential for women's groups to mobilize successfully to get women elected.

66 While Kushner and his colleagues found the highest proportion of female councillors (26%) in their sample of Ontario cities of over 100,000, they predict that “the achievement of gender parity will be an especially lengthy process in the larger municipalities” given the fact that “the stronghold that [predominantly male] incumbents possess over their safe seats increases as the size of the municipality increases” (Kushner et al., “Ontario Municipal Elections,” 21).

67 There has been much less research conducted outside the US, but British studies have generally found few significant predictors of variations in women's local council representation. See, for example, Bristow, Steven, “Women Councillors—An Explanation of the Under-Representation of Women in Local Government,” Local Government Studies (1980), 73–90Google Scholar; Studlar and Welch, “Understanding the Iron Law”; and Welch and Studlar, “The Effects of Candidate Gender.”

68 As Tardy comments in discussing the research she is conducting with her colleagues on women in Quebec municipal politics: “Comment peut-on se sentir les bienvenues en politique quand on se fait accueillir a la table de la MRC de la facon suivante: ‘Moi, les femmes, je les aime dans ma cuisine et dans mon lit’” ( Tardy, Evelyne, “Peu d'élues sur la scène municipale,” La Presse [Montreal], March 8, 1997Google Scholar, B3).

69 Tardy, Evelyne cites this perception in “Représentation des femmes et politique municipale: Nettement insuffisant!” Municipalité (March-April 1993), 30.Google Scholar