FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 3, 2022, OTTAWA — Equal Voice announced their disappointment today at the stall in the overall number of women and gender diverse people elected in the Ontario provincial election. In yesterday’s Ontario election, 38.7 % of candidates elected to serve as Members of Provincial Parliament were women or gender diverse people. This is similar to the 39.5% elected in 2018.
Overall in Ontario, 48 women and gender diverse MPPs were elected: 24 Progressive Conservative (one less than in 2018), 19 New Democrat Party (one less than in 2018), 4 Liberals (the same as 2018), and the first woman ever elected as an independent MPP in Ontario. The lack of change came in spite of an encouraging number of women and gender diverse candidates nominated by political parties this election cycle.
“It is discouraging to see the lack of progress in women and gender diverse people elected as MPPs in Canada’s most populous province of Ontario,” said Eleanor Fast, Executive Director of Equal Voice. “We know from a recent survey that a majority of Canadians say that having more women in politics would have a positive impact on government policy, actions, and decisions. There is still along way to go in balance and equity and these results highlight that the barriers to gender equality of elected office remain persistent and systemic,” added Fast.
It is clear that these Ontario election results demonstrate a renewed need to address societal barriers that prevent women from running and winning elected office. These barriers include perceptions of poor work-life balance, or the fact that men are twice as likely to be asked to run for office than women.
Eleanor Fast, Executive Director of Equal Voice is available for interviews and election commentary.
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Founded in 2001, Equal Voice is a national, bilingual, multi-partisan, not-for-profit organization dedicated to electing more women to all levels of political office in Canada.
For media interviews, please contact:
Barbara Barrett 343-998-8906 [email protected]