Prospect of more female representation in the Sask. legislature remains dim

Loleen Berdahl says the low number of women elected in Saskatchewan politics will likely persist after the upcoming provincial election.

Saskatchewan has elected few women to the provincial legislature for decades, said Berdahl, who is the executive director at the Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy and Professor of Political Studies with the University of Saskatchewan.

"It's been very stalled," she said.

Between 1917 and 2011, no more than 13 women were elected to the provincial legislature at the same time. She predicted in 2013 that, "given the low priority placed on the issue in the province, the prairie plateau in women's legislative representation is likely to persist for some time to come." 

"We're unlikely to see change," she said Wednesday, reaffirming her prediction. "If anything we might see the number of women in the Legislature decrease, because we had some incumbent women who aren't running again."

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Berdahl said it's not necessarily that voters discriminate against female candidates, but rather that many of the women nominated are vying for tough seats. The majority of incumbents are men.

Berdahl noted opposition parties tend to focus more on diversity as they try to expand their reach. The NDP has branded itself as an "alternative to Scott Moe's Old Boys' Club," but the latest polling data pegs the Sask. Party as the likely winner.

Demographic shifts in representation typically don't happen without a change in government, Berdahl said.

The NDP has 28 female candidates out of 61, compared to the 12 of 61 running for the Sask. Party — a number that recently increased by one after Chris Guérette replaced Daryl Cooper in the Saskatoon Eastview race.

Berdahl said it's typical for right-of-centre parties to have fewer women and that the Sask. Party has not been overt in efforts to recruit more female candidates. In fact, Sask. Party candidate Tina Beaudry-Mellor told the Regina-Leader Post she wasn't "sold on the NDP rules to require equity-seeking candidates" and that she has "never been a big fan of quotas" when asked about female representation. 

Berdahl said it's tough to find direct evidence that illustrates how the lack of female representation could affect people's engagement in politics. However, she said there are narratives that suggest people are more likely to become engaged if they see themselves represented. Elections Saskatchewan does not track data on voting demographics. Elections Canada does and says more women than men voted in the 2015 general election. 

Women fed up with Saskatchewan's status quo 

A group of people in Saskatchewan who've had enough of the provincial political discourse have decided to elevate women's voices as the municipal and provincial election cycles roll on. 

Winter Fedyk, who launch the website Women for Saskatchewan on Oct. 1, said women are "fed up" with the status quo when it comes to politicians and policy.

The site already hosts several articles about policy written by a diverse group of authors and a podcast is in development. Some topics include education, access to abortion, mental health, truth and reconciliation, domestic violence resources and climate change. 

Fedyk said the page is not about hearing less from men, it's about hearing more from women. She said the page is nonpartisian. 

"People are going to look at this initiative and say, oh, well, this is about the provincial election exclusively. It's about Scott Moe, Ryan Meili, a reaction against that — and it's really not," she said.

She's hopeful that constructive criticism and solutions brought forward on the page can highlight realities people face in the province and also help leaders move forward in a better way. 

"The majority of the pieces right now are social policy," Fedyk said.

She said that demonstrates the gap that exists in current political conversation, which most-often revolves around the economy.  

"It's just so disconnected from the real life of people. It's not focused on communities," Fedyk said. "From my perspective, there's a huge disconnect between what the government is focused on and what matters to people."

Moe cites economy as reason to vote Sask. Party

When asked why women in the province should vote for his party, Saskatchewan Party Leader Scott Moe on Monday pointed to the economy and "growing opportunities."

"We have some great statistics when it comes to women entrepreneurs, to women employment statistics," Moe said. "We are going to continue to do what we can as we said, to grow — first of all recover, and then continue to grow — the economy in the province. That provides opportunities for both women and men." 

 A recent report released by Women Entrepreneurs Saskatchewan shows women entrepreneurs contributed $23.1 billion to the economy in 2019 and created 191,836 jobs. However, women entrepreneurs face significant barriers when it comes to turning their start ups or small businesses into something larger. More than 80 per cent of women-owned businesses have less than 10 employees. The report said Saskatchewan "women simply are not achieving the same level of scale as men-owned businesses."

Moe said the party would "continue to work with not only women entrepreneurs but entrepreneurs of all sorts," adding the first thing these entrepreneurs would need for success would be a "a growing and vibrant economy." 

Berdahl said there's been an "unfortunate history" in the province of chunking off certain issues as "women's issues," while other things like the economy are seen as an everyman issue. 

​"There's ​this idea that the economy is a blanket that covers everyone," she said. "But when we actually look at how the economy functions, we see that it's highly gendered." 

For example, she said infrastructure projects are often used to "kickstart" economies, but that the people who benefit first are those in male-dominated industries like construction. 

She said politicians have tended to talk about issues without necessarily understanding how certain issues or policy affect people who aren't men, or who aren't white, in different ways. 

"There's sort of a gender and race blindness that exists." 

In 2013, Berdahl wrote that low numbers of female representatives were caused by a lack of political will to prioritize them, by "women excluding themselves from politics because of socio-demographic barriers and the province's more traditional political culture​," and by limited feminist pressure on the political parties​.

Berdahl said groups like Women for Saskatchewan have mobilized to give voices to people other than the white (and often old) men who tend to dominate political discourse or be seen as experts. 

There are similar movements in the U.S. and in Canada. For example, the Alberta-focused Order of Women Who Give No F--ks Twitter account, which aims to "hold an intersectional lens to policy and holding governments to account."

"They're mobilizing for that change," Fedyk said. "When you're feeling helpless with everything that's going on, this is the kind of initiative where people can really see how they can have an impact." 

The provincial election is coming up on Oct. 26.