Canadian Women Voters Congress

Last updated

The Canadian Women Voters Congress is a non-partisan, charitable organization based in Vancouver, British Columbia that offers Canada's longest running female Campaign school as well as hosts many talks, workshops, and events with the purpose of empowering women into participating in democracy. [1]

Contents

History

Audrey Paterson was the catalyst of the congress and founder along with Kathryn Sainty and Helen Wilkes. Joanne Silver was the first Chair of the Women's Campaign School which began in 1999. Since it opened its doors, more than 450 women have benefitted from the program, many of whom have been elected for public office. Audrey died in 2010.

Importance of the Campaign School

Both Jaquetta Newman and Sylvia Bashevkin note the importance as well as lack of female politicians in Canada. In Newman's book Women, Politics, and Public Policy, the topic of policing the female body is introduced and understood in terms of gender exclusions in politics. Providing background in feminist movements, Newman explains that the female body is held to a standard of feminization and thus rejected of legitimacy when diverted. [2]

Basevkin's book Women, Power, Politics: The Hidden Story of Canada's Unfinished Democracy discusses female politicians from the viewpoint of society. Terming female leaders as components of the discomfort zone, [3] where citizens, journalists, media, and other politicians will pick apart aspects of female politicians until there is nothing left but to deem her unsuitable for the job.

Organizations and schools such as the Canadian Women Voters Congress are integral in mobilizing females to participate in democracy and strive for public office.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Politics of the United States</span>

In the United States, politics functions within a framework of a constitutional federal republic. The three distinct branches share powers: the U.S. Congress which forms the legislative branch, a bicameral legislative body comprising the House of Representatives and the Senate; the executive branch, which is headed by the president of the United States, who serves as the country's head of state and government; and the judicial branch, composed of the Supreme Court and lower federal courts, and which exercises judicial power.

Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. At the beginning of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to grant women the right to vote, increasing the number of those parties' potential constituencies. National and international organizations formed to coordinate efforts towards women voting, especially the International Woman Suffrage Alliance.

Participatory democracy, participant democracy, participative democracy, or semi-direct democracy is a form of government in which citizens participate individually and directly in political decisions and policies that affect their lives, rather than through elected representatives. Elements of direct and representative democracy are combined in this model.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">League of Women Voters</span> Voter education and advocacy organization

The League of Women Voters (LWV) is an American nonprofit, nonpartisan political organization. Founded in 1920, its ongoing major activities include registering voters, providing voter information, boosting voter turnout and advocating for voting rights. In addition, the LWV works with partners that share its positions and supports a variety of progressive public policy positions, including campaign finance reform, women's rights, health care reform, gun control.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">League of Conservation Voters</span> Environmental advocacy organization in Washington, D.C., United States

The League of Conservation Voters (LCV) is an American environmental advocacy group. LCV says that it "advocates for sound environmental laws and policies, holds elected officials accountable for their votes and actions, and elects pro-environment candidates." The organization pursues its goals through voter education, voter mobilization, and direct contributions to political candidates. LCV includes 29 state affiliates. LCV was founded in 1970 by environmentalist Marion Edey, with support from David Brower. The group's current president is Gene Karpinski. It is headquartered in Washington, D.C., and has over two million members.

Nonpartisanship, also known as nonpartisanism, is a lack of affiliation with, and a lack of bias towards, a political party.

A publicly funded election is an election funded with money collected through income tax donations or taxes as opposed to private or corporate funded campaigns. It is a policy initially instituted after Nixon for candidates to opt into publicly funded presidential campaigns via optional donations from tax returns. It is an attempt to move toward a one voice, one vote democracy, and remove undue corporate and private entity dominance.

Elections in the People's Republic of China occur under a one-party authoritarian political system controlled by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Direct elections, except in the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau, occur only at the local level people's congresses and village committees, with all candidate nominations preapproved by the CCP. By law, all elections at all levels must adhere to the leadership of the CCP.

Representation by women has been a significant issue in Canadian politics since 1900.

In many countries, women have been underrepresented in the government and different institutions. This historical tendency still persists, although women are increasingly being elected to be heads of state and government.

Politics is the process by which groups of people make decisions. Although the term is generally applied to behavior within civil governments, politics is observed in all human group interactions, including corporate, academic, and religious institutions. Politics consists of "social relations involving authority or power. The definition of "politics" from "The Free Dictionary" is the study of political behavior and examines the acquisition and application of power. Politics study include political philosophy, which seeks a rationale for politics and an ethic of public behavior, and public administration, which examines the practices of governance.

In governance, sortition is the selection of public officials or jurors at random, i.e. by lottery, in order to obtain a representative sample.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Women's suffrage in Australia</span>

Women's suffrage in Australia was one of the early achievements of Australian democracy. Following the progressive establishment of male suffrage in the Australian colonies from the 1840s to the 1890s, an organised push for women's enfranchisement gathered momentum from the 1880s, and began to be legislated from the 1890s. South Australian women achieved the right to vote and to stand for office in 1895, following the world first Constitutional Amendment Act 1894 which gained royal assent the following year. This preceded even universal male suffrage in Tasmania. Western Australia granted women the right to vote from 1899, although with racial restrictions. In 1902, the newly established Australian Parliament passed the Commonwealth Franchise Act 1902, which gave women equal voting rights to men and the right to stand for federal parliament. By 1908, the remaining Australian states had legislated for women's suffrage for state elections. Grace Benny was elected as the first female local government councillor in 1919, Edith Cowan the first state Parliamentarian in 1921, Dorothy Tangney the first Senator and Enid Lyons the first Member of the House of Representatives in 1943.

A citizens' assembly is a group of people selected by lottery from the general population to deliberate on important public questions so as to exert an influence. Other types of deliberative mini-publics include citizens' jury, citizens' panel, people's panel, people's jury, policy jury, consensus conference and citizens' convention.

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to politics and political science:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jason Brennan</span> American philosopher and business professor (born 1979)

Jason F. Brennan is an American philosopher and business professor. He is the Robert J. and Elizabeth Flanagan Family Professor of Strategy, Economics, Ethics, and Public Policy at the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University.

Sanford "Sandy" Newman is an American non-profit executive. Between 1982 and 2017, he founded and served as president of three non-profits, Project VOTE!, Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, and Voices for Progress.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Women's political participation in India</span>

The term 'political participation' has a very wide meaning. It is not only related to 'Right to Vote', but simultaneously relates to participation in: decision-making process, political activism, political consciousness, etc. Women in India participate in voting, run for public offices and political parties at lower levels more than men. Political activism and voting are the strongest areas of women's political participation. To combat gender inequality in politics, the Indian Government has instituted reservations for seats in local governments.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anita Vandenbeld</span> Canadian politician

Anita M. Vandenbeld is a Canadian politician, who was elected to represent the riding of Ottawa West—Nepean for the Liberal Party of Canada in the House of Commons of Canada in the 2015 Canadian federal election. She was re-elected in the same riding in 2019, and re-elected in 2021. Vandenbeld currently serves as Parliamentary secretary to the Minister of International Development.

Sylvia Beth Bashevkin, is Canadian academic and writer known for her research in the field of women and politics.

References

  1. "Canadian Women Voters Congress". Archived from the original on 2013-12-10. Retrieved 2013-06-06.
  2. Newman, Jacquetta (2012). Women, Politics, and Public Policy: The Political Struggles of Canadian Women. Ontario, CA: Oxford University Press. p. 241.
  3. Bashevkin, Sylvia (2009). Women, Power, Politics: The Hidden Story of Canada's Unfinished Democracy. Canada: Oxford University Press.