Half a century of women in Manitoba elections: Big gains, but still work to do

It has been just over a century since Manitoba became the first province in Canada to allow women to vote. In 1916, the Bill to Amend the Manitoba Elections Act received royal assent, extending the right to vote to nearly all citizens of the province.

What is often overlooked, however, is that this new law meant women were now also eligible to run as candidates in provincial elections.

The first female member of the Legislative Assembly in Manitoba history was Edith Rogers, who was elected in Winnipeg in the 1920 general election, exactly 50 years after the first provincial elections were held in the province. This was at a time where the ballot would often indicate whether a female candidate was married or not. 

Fast-forward to 2019, when last week, 15 of 57 ridings were won by women.

While this is among the best female representation in Manitoba history, it still falls short of gender parity on Broadway. So just how far have we come, and why does equal representation across gender lines still remain so elusive? 

With the assistance of the Manitoba Historical Society, CBC News compiled a complete list of every party nominee to have run in a general election or byelection since 1870 — a total of 3,317 candidates — and analyzed the records. The results show that while voters tend to not discriminate at the ballot box, women appear to more often than not be placed in hard-to-win races.

The general election in 1962 marks the point when the three main parties — the Progressive Conservatives, the New Democratic Party and the Liberal Party — were fully formed and held the same party name we know today. To ensure apples-to-apples comparisons of party performance over time, this date marks the starting point for the analysis.

It is worth noting that in about 20 cases, it was not possible to reliably determine the gender of candidates and in a single case, the candidate was gender non-conforming.

Another important historical factor in considering access to political life in the province is that many groups — such as Indigenous people, those with mental and physical disabilities, inmates, hospitalized patients, justice officials, and government and political staff — were barred from voting initially and in some cases, were only granted the right several decades later.

Female MLAs rare before 1980s

Up until the early 1980s, it was quite rare for women to win a riding. That began to change in 1981, around the time former Manitoba Liberal Party Leader Sharon Carstairs entered provincial politics.

Since that time, the highest proportion of female MLAs was reached in 2007, when Gary Doer led the NDP to a third consecutive victory. In total, 18 women were elected that year, representing 32 per cent of the assembly.

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With parties facing pressure from the public, and from within, to strike a better balance along gender lines, parties of all stripes have increasingly been nominating women to run in ridings across the province.

Sharon Carstairs, who recently retired from the federal Senate after more than 20 years in that appointment, says one thing that has changed the face of politics for women has been their advancement in workplaces and thus, their ability to raise funds more effectively for their own campaigns.

"You also get a lot of money from people in your work group, if you will. If you're a lawyer, it's easier for you to raise money from fellow lawyers. If you're a doctor, same from fellow doctors," she said.

"You don't have the same advantage that men do. Now that has changed, but it was very much the case when I was running in electoral politics."

Candidate nominations impact success

The analysis also shows that once on the ballot, the electorate tends to not discriminate against female candidates. This is consistent with research and analyses done at the federal level.

On average, a female candidate tends to get as many votes as a male candidate during any given modern-day election. Since 1962, female candidates have received an average 2,065 votes in their respective races, while men have averaged 2,232 votes cast in their name.

But when broken down by the proportion of female candidates who went on to win their election races, differences across time and parties emerge.

In the case of the NDP, female candidates are overall just slightly behind their male counterparts in terms of successful outcomes, with 26 per cent of women securing a seat compared to 33 per cent this past election. But in the early days, many of their candidates failed to win a seat.

The PCs have a similar track record over the past decades. However, in the two most recent general elections, the gap in success rate between men and women has grown.

In last Tuesday's election, 80 per cent of male PC candidates won their race, while only 36 per cent of female PC candidates won. The gap was the same in 2011.

In total, 19 of the 22 female PC candidates ran in urban ridings, many of which were either in tight races or in historically unwinnable ridings.

Since 1962, only 32 of 608 rural PC candidates have been women. No other party has such a pronounced urban-rural divide across gender lines.

Christopher Adams, a political scientist based at St. Paul's College at the University of Manitoba, says this urban-rural split reveals the history of the party.

"I think the gap between men and women in the rural areas … by gender for the Progressive Conservatives is quite astounding," he says.

Adams says the PCs are effectively an umbrella for two parties: the red Tories in the Winnipeg region, and the socially conservative rural wing. He says studies in Manitoba have shown that while female PC party members are fiscally right-of-centre, socially, they diverge from the views of their male colleagues.

Other parties have more even representation across the province, including the NDP, who actually had more women than men running in rural ridings in 2019. However, much like urban-area PC candidates, NDP candidates running in rural areas also face an uphill battle: only two of 13 women running for the NDP in rural ridings won their race, both of whom were in northern Manitoba.

Carstairs says women, who still tend to shoulder a greater burden on the home front, are less likely to seek a nomination if they live outside of major centres.

In her experience, long-distance travel from remote ridings is more likely to discourage women from entertaining the idea of running, which could explain in part why there are fewer female candidates in rural areas.

Party policies on recruitment

CBC surveyed the three major parties in Manitoba about their policies or guidelines on the recruitment of female candidates.

The Progressive Conservatives say they have no specific policy regarding gender when it comes to recruitment, but say they have made it a priority in recent years.

"The success of these efforts has been demonstrated in the sharp increase in the number of women running as PC candidates, from just 12 in the 2011 election to 22 female candidates running for our party in 2019," wrote a party spokesperson.

The Liberal Party told CBC News they also do not have a concrete policy in place. However, they do make additional funding available to female candidates through a special fund.

"We do have the Sharon Carstairs Fund, a fund set up to provide financial support to women choosing to run as candidates under the Manitoba Liberal banner," says Colin Roy, spokesperson for the Manitoba Liberal Party.

"We recognize that women face more challenges when running a campaign and this fund is in place to provide support and encourage more women to run for the Manitoba Liberal Party."

The New Democratic Party, which has a series of formal policies in place, says in the 1970s, the party established a committee to promote the inclusion of women in their political activities. Like the Liberals, the NDP also maintains a fund designed to provide financial support for first-time female candidates.

"The Manitoba NDP constitution requires gender balance on party executive and provincial council, and this principle has extended to all other committees formed by the party," said Emily Coutts, a spokesperson for the party.

There is a requirement that all ridings formally solicit women to potentially run as candidates, she said. For the most recent election campaign, the party struck a headhunting task force designed to identify potential female nominees.

Furthermore, riding association selection committees are required to have gender parity, Coutts said.

With volunteer research assistance from Gordon Goldsborough of the Manitoba Historical Society.

Data sources:

• Manitoba election records (1870 to 1969): Manitoba Legislative Library.
• 1970 to present: Elections Manitoba.
• Supplementary research from historical news clippings from various newspaper publications.