The Growth and Power of Women
The recent election on September 20 had our attention for a number of reasons these past few weeks. Going forward, we will be looking for resolutions of the issues of concern and action toward progress for the promises made.
While final results are still being tabulated in some ridings, what was interesting to see was the number of candidates running for the five political parties. According to a not-for-profit organization, Equal Voice, women and gender-diverse candidates totaled 43% of all the candidates, up from 42% candidates in 2019. Women account for 100 seats of the total 332 current members of parliament. As of today, this is 30% female representation of all seats in parliament. We have a voice!
We have come a long way in just over 100 years when we were first given the right to vote and the first woman, Agnes Macphail, was elected to the House of Commons in 1921.
We wish all of our representatives the best and embolden them to collectively work together to make this a stronger and improved Canada, both locally and nationally, for the lives of women and children of all ages and all backgrounds. We will be actively listening and paying attention. We too have a voice.
Submitted by Maureen Shantz, President, CFUW St Catharines