Quebecoises Et Representation Parlementaire.

AuthorGravel, Line
PositionBook review

Quebecoises et representation parlementaire, Manon Tremblay, Presses de l'Universite Laval, 2005, 328 pp.

This work is the fruit of exhaustive research on the representation of Quebec women in the National Assembly, the House of Commons and the Senate of Canada. The author adopts an approach that draws from both history and political science. Her study is a timely one, because statistics show that Canada is losing ground in this area internationally. In fact, according to the Inter-Parliamentary Union's figures on the proportion of women in the legislative assemblies of some 180 countries, Canada fell from 16th in 1998 to 31st at the end of 2004.

In the first chapter, the author traces the history of voting rights and eligibility. She relates the various moments that shaped the political citizenship of Quebec women and their access to parliamentary representation. She then turns to the ideas that animated the debates on women's suffrage in Quebec. She centres the great debate around five speeches: the specificity of the sexes, democratic modernity, substantial representation of women, constitutional jurisdictions and the practice of suffrage. These speeches were given in the House of Commons in 1885, 1917 and 1918, and in Quebec's Legislative Assembly in 1940. What the author brings out in this historical overview puts the primary emphasis on the historically difficult relationship of democratic principles faced with the difference, the relationship between federalism, nationalism and women's rights, and the evolution of women's political citizenship in terms of representation.

The second chapter seeks to understand why women, while a slight majority in the population, are still, after so many years, a minority in legislative arenas. According to the author, for whom inclusion does not imply representation, there are a number of hypotheses that might explain this anomaly, including the process for appointing elected Members of Parliament. After analyzing the eligibility, recruitment, selection and election criteria, the author notes that, since 1921, only 134 Quebec women have been chosen to represent a riding in the House of Commons or Quebec's National Assembly. Turning then to the process for appointing unelected Members of Parliament, she notes that, since 1929, only sixteen Quebec women have been named to the Senate.

The third chapter explores the identity and ideas of Quebec's female MPs and senators. The author concedes that women...

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