'Troubling data': Report shows negative experiences women have while running for office in Alberta
'Troubling data': Report shows negative experiences women have while running for office in Alberta
EDMONTON -
A new research report highlights the negative campaign experience many women face as they run for political office.
The report, written by the Alberta Council of Women’s Shelters, has been four years in the works and generated a new aid to help raise awareness about the negative gendered impacts the majority of women in the political arena experience.
Part of the report was generated by a survey conducted by ACWS in Alberta during the 2017 municipal election that was sent to candidates. Seventy-five responses were received, with the majority of responses from women running for municipal council positions.
Sixty-three per cent of women respondents reported at least one misogynistic or discriminatory attack during their campaigning for office, with 43 per cent reporting this type of behaviour as a regular occurrence they experienced.
More than half of the respondents indicated there were not adequate supports available to women entering politics in Alberta, the ACWS said in the report.
Women respondents were four times more likely than men to report that the nature of criticisms they received was always or almost always focused on themselves. This often included critical comments about their choices of clothing, decision to have children, racial identity, sexuality, and religion, as opposed to their political platform.
According to the survey, women were three times more likely than candidates who were men to report repeated discriminatory interactions with at least one individual, group, or media outlet.
Additionally, women were four times more likely than men to note the overall tone of an election as mostly negative or sometimes negative.
The report was also generated by an academic literature review, focus groups, and news coverage analysis.
All that research culminated in the ACWS being able to find common tactics and violence women running for face, including minimization, using children to generate parental guilt, emotional abuse that can make women feel underqualified, and intimidation.
ACWS was able to map those sources and amplifiers of violence onto an adaption of the power and control wheel that is used in domestic abuse intervention programming.
— Alberta Council of Women's Shelters (@womenshelter) October 13, 2021
Jan Reimer, executive director of ACWS, said in a statement that the research report and ability to identify violence women face allows for a greater understanding of gendered experiences during election campaigns.
“(We gathered) troubling data about the violence and abuse experienced by women in politics,” Reimer said.
“The women themselves always knew these things to be true, but we now have a way to visualize that experience and interpret it a part of the larger social issue of violence against women.”
ACWS hopes to continue raising awareness about the experiences women have while running for office and creating more supports and information to support safe(r) spaces for women in politics.
When two skiers collided on a beginner run at an upscale Utah ski resort in 2016, no one could foresee that seven years later, the crash would become the subject of a closely watched celebrity trial.
A Toronto man, whose neighbours vanished eight years ago and left their home completely abandoned, said he's fed up living next door to a property that is in complete disarray.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau offered a brief initial response to the final report from the Mass Casualty Commission (MCC) into Canada's worst mass shooting, which claimed the lives of 22 people in Nova Scotia in 2020. Vowing changes will come, here's what Trudeau said in Truro, N.S.
The federal Liberals are trending downward on three key measures while Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has surpassed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau when it comes to the question of who Canadians would prefer now as their prime minister, according to Nanos Research.
A coroner has denied a request from a former Toronto police officer to explore a theory that a distraught teen he shot was committing "suicide by cop."
U.S. authorities are investigating a group of people swimming toward a pod of spinner dolphins off Hawaii's Big Island. The department alleges that the swimmers were 'harassing the pod' as the dolphins were swimming away.
A Saskatoon murder trial is being adjourned to allow police to follow-up on "significant information" that just came to the Crown prosecutor's attention Wednesday.
A community-focused historian has found several potential ancient artifacts along the Saskatchewan River, including a bison bone that is over 8,000 years old.
Two-and-a-half years after it was established, Nova Scotia’s Mass Casualty Commission has recommended sweeping changes to everything from gun control to mental health services, although there’s no guarantee any will ever be implemented.
A Toronto man, whose neighbours vanished eight years ago and left their home completely abandoned, said he's fed up living next door to a property that is in complete disarray.
A coroner has denied a request from a former Toronto police officer to explore a theory that a distraught teen he shot was committing "suicide by cop."
It's been two weeks since a major fire ripped through a heritage building in the heart of Old Montreal, killing seven people and forever altering the lives of families across the globe. For the families of those who died, the grieving process is only starting.
A young man found wounded late Wednesday night in the parking lot of a shopping centre in northeast Montreal is believed to be the victim of an earlier shooting in the same area. Montreal police (SPVM) reported Thursday morning that the 18-year-old man's life was no longer in danger.
A new regulation that comes into effect Thursday in Quebec prohibits the feeding of white-tailed deer outside of hunting season, from Dec. 1 to Aug. 31, except on l'ile d'Anticosti.
A judge has acquitted a now-retired priest of forcing himself on a residential school student more than 50 years ago, saying she believes an assault happened but could not determine beyond a reasonable doubt who did it.
A bylaw officer in Manitoba is facing fraud charges for allegedly keeping the surrender fees when people gave up their pets, according to the Brandon Police Service.
Candice Bergen has signed on to co-chair the Manitoba Progressive Conservative election campaign, weeks after resigning her seat in the House of Commons.
