Winning over women politicians
In the 1990s, P. E. I. had its own ‘ Famous Five’ female political leaders
A photo depicting five influential women in the Prince Edward Island government of the mid- 1990s shouldn't be seen as evidence that the Island is more enlightened than any other province when it comes to gender and politics.
This is the opinion of one of the women in that photo, then opposition leader Pat Mella.
" There are five ( women leaders in the photo) and it's a great thing to be able to say, but I hope people don't think that P. E. I. has become progressive," Mella said in an interview with The Guardian days after Canada elected its fifth sitting woman premier. " No, that's not what it means at all. Not in my view.”
In 1993, Island voters had a choice between Mella's Progressive Conservatives and Catherine Callbeck's Liberals. ( Larry Duchesne's New Democrats failed to make a mark.) They chose the Liberals in droves, putting Callbeck in the premier's seat and the history books — she was Canada's first elected female premier.
It would take nearly two decades before another woman first minister would be elected in the country, but today there are five: Pauline Marois was elected in September in Quebec, joining Christy Clark in British Columbia, Allison Redford in Alberta, Kathy Dunderdale in Newfoundland and Labrador and Eva Aariak in Nunavut.
Callbeck says the female representation in Canada now is " a tremendous accomplishment".
" I'm certainly
very pleased to see more women take a leadership role in government," Callbeck said in a telephone interview with The Guardian in September. " I'm pleased, but I also have to admit that the progress has been slow. It's hard to believe that 18 years went by from when I was elected in 1993 and when Kathy Dunderdale became the second premier."
Mella is also pleased to see women gaining political ground. But she says, despite the 1993 election, Islanders seem to subconsciously view men as better leaders than women..
“Now, fortunately for us, across the country, things are changing and they can
elected
female see evidence of what happens when a woman is premier, but I do think in P. E. I. it is harder,” Mella said. “Because we are traditionalists. We were brought up in a society where men did everything: they were in charge of everything, they made every decision. The women did the cooking, the cleaning and the having babies.”
Male candidates still outnumber women, but Callbeck sees that changing, if slowly.
" When I look back at the days since I started politics, there's been a big change, not only in politics, but in the professions and in all kinds of leadership roles," Callbeck said. " And as more women are successful, there are more role models to mentor young women, and I think it helps open doors for increased participation."
Mella says she worried about that very thing when she bowed to party pressure and gave up the PC leadership in 1995.
“My conscience bothered me that I wasn't able to do it because I knew that a lot of women ( counted on me),” she said. “I was thinking, ‘ I know what they're going to say, they're going to say I gave up the chance to have two women premiers, first there was Catherine and then you.’ And I think there's still women who think I did a disservice by not doing it.”