Friday, November 11, 2011
Supporting Women Candidates
The Judy LaMarsh Fund is an essential tool to work towards true gender equity in Canadian politics. But at the moment it is just a line item -- it is not a stand alone fund. The Women's Commission expressly does not raise funds. Especially with electoral funding changes women candidates will need all the support we can give them. Let's make the Judy LaMarsh fund a dedicated fund, with major focus, and ensure that it can provide the support we will need in the next election.
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2 comments:
The reality is that the Liberal party is one of the most top heavy white, wealthy,old, male, oriented institutions in the country.
Previous declared "successes" of quotas by the Libs was the goal of having 1/3 of their candidates in a federal election being female. They were put in disproportionately in what were obviously unwinnable ridings.
In other words the Libs were only concerned about the optics.
The Liberals need to change the culture of their own party before pretending that they can address the bigger issue within society.
Actually it's far to say all the political Parties have a real gender imbalance -- and politics is costly and that tends to limit many political people to the wealthy. That said, I know lots of Liberal (and Conservative and NDP and Green) women. I also know lots of minority people in the Liberal NDP and Green Party. And I know people who are far from rich in all Parties. BUT YOU ARE RIGHT THAT WE NEED MORE WOMEN AT HIGH LEVELS IN THE LIBERAL PARTY. Which is precisely why we need to make it possible for qualified women candidates to run and so ... the Judy LaMarsh fund needs to be revamped and strengthened.
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