Women leave politics feeling like they were 'houseplants'

Photo: Jacques Boissinot The Canadian Press Members of Parliament are present in the Red Room of the National Assembly in September 2024.

Caroline Plante – The Canadian Press

Published at 8:48 a.m.

• Québec

Women voluntarily leave politics not because of sexism, double standards or work-life balance, but because they feel underutilized.

This is the conclusion of Alexandre Dumas, historian and author of the study “Why do women leave politics ?” commissioned by the women’s committee of the Cercle des ex-parlementaires de l’Assemblée nationale after the wave of departures in 2022.

What emerges from his interviews with 21 former elected women is that they felt like they were playing the “houseplant,” he explains in an interview in Parliament, using the famous expression of the former CAQ MP turned Conservative, Claire Samson.

During her last press briefing, in June 2022, Ms. Samson shocked many by declaring that the MPs acted as “houseplants” in the Salon bleu, and that she had personally worked harder at 17 years old at the Da Giovanni.

According to Mr. Dumas, Claire Samson — who was outraged at having to ask written questions in advance in parliamentary committee — “perfectly illustrates the frustration caused by the feeling of playing a ceremonial role.”

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“Elected women who leave politics […] have had the impression that their skills were not recognized and had no other use than to show up in the House to ensure a quorum, […] in other words, to play the role of a “houseplant”,” he writes in his essay.

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“They are asked to read lines of communication to journalists, to vote on bills that they have not had time to read and on which they are not asked to have an opinion anyway, they are given the questions that they must read in parliamentary committee,” he specifies in an interview.

This frustration may very well be shared by men, but unlike women, they tend to want to stay in office, he explains.

He points out that nearly two-thirds of the elected officials who did not run again in 2022 were women, although they only made up 44% of the deputation at the time of the dissolution of the House.

“More men are making politics a career,” he says. (Women) ultimately ask themselves: “Why are we making these sacrifices? Why are we doing this?”

There are obstacles to women's persistence in politics: sexism, microaggressions, double standards in the media, cyberbullying, work-family balance, the researcher lists.

“However, the interviews do not give the impression that these factors were determining factors,” he writes.

“It is when they have the impression that they cannot play their role well or that their function could be occupied by someone else without it making a difference that they make the decision to leave. »

Reviewing the role of the MP

Former PQ MP and minister Marie Malavoy, who is now involved in the Cercle des ex-parlementaires, believes that collective reflection is necessary.

“There, we have a problem,” she said in an interview. “We have been working for years to get women into politics, to attract them, […] but if they get in and they don't last, […] we are no further forward. […] It's a leaky basket.” »

Let us recall that in 2022, the government’s parliamentary leader, Simon Jolin-Barrette, committed to carrying out parliamentary reform, in particular to enhance the role of MP.

He proposed, among other things, creating a deliberative chamber parallel to the Salon bleu, the Chambre des affaires citoyens, to hear “MPs’ affairs” (including those from the party in power).

He also planned “a new section offering an additional forum for parliamentarians to debate, among other things, bills that will not come from the government.”

For the project to come to fruition, discussions still need to take place with the other parties represented in the National Assembly.

As part of his research, Alexandre Dumas interviewed, between November 2023 and May 2024, 21 female politicians who chose not to run in the 2018 and 2022 elections.

He was able to benefit from the financial support of the Secretariat for the Status of Women, the Minister of Justice and the Minister of Immigration, Francisation and Integration.