Conservative Women at the Helm: Comparing Provincial and National Conservative Leadership in Canada

Canada like many countries in Europe is experiencing a ‘Conservative Moment,’ having elected a conservative government at the national level since 2006. Our previous work on the Harper Conservatives in Canada demonstrated that the Conservative Party has a complex relationship with women (Bird and Rowe, 2011). It is antifeminist in many respects, and has been laggard in nominating female candidates and placing women in top ministerial posts. Yet it has sought to attract female voters, and minimize the gender gap in its support. It has proposed and enacted policy that party leaders believe will appeal to women with traditional attitudes toward family and gender, marshalling the language of ‘choice’ rather than evoking the explicit language of traditional family values. The strategy appears to have been successful, insofar as the party has gained increasing support among all voters, and was returned with a majority in the most recent 2011 elections. One possible interpretation is that most Canadians agree more with the Conservative Party’s leadership than with feminist advocates for full gender equity, or that they believe that all that can be achieved politically for women’s equality has been achieved. It may well be these sentiments, rather than a principled rejection of women’s equality, that creates openings for Conservatives to marginalize advocacy on gender. At the same time, a shift in women’s representation at the provincial level has created a new dimension in the Canadian political landscape. In 2011, for the first time in Canadian history, three of the ten provinces have elected female Premiers, each heading a provincial conservative party. This development raises new questions, and certainly complicates the analysis of women and Canadian conservatism. Our paper will consider to what extent these female-led conservative governments are pursuing policies and discourses on women that are similar, or distinctive from those at the national level. Previous research has suggested that the feminist movement in Canada can continue to advance its policy objectives at the provincial level, when conservative governments at the national level are less receptive (Bashevkin 2009). Our paper will present a comparative analysis of the policy platforms on women’s issues proposed by the three recently elected Conservative female Premiers: Christy Clark of British Columbia, Kathy Dunderdale of Newfoundland, and Alison Redford of Alberta. We will further compare and contrast the positions taken by these three leaders at the provincial level, with changes in women’s policy at the national level. In Canada the provinces have considerable autonomy with regard to health care, education, and early childhood development which raises the possibility of observing layers of difference in the way Conservative female leaders represent women in their provinces and work together at the national level.