Quebec 2022: more women candidates thanks to QS and the CAQ

There have never been so many women candidates in provincial elections… especially thanks to QS and the CAQ who are pulling the group up.

On the eve of the election call, all the parties are in the parity zone, except the Conservative Party of Quebec for which this was not an objective. With parity at less than 38%, Éric Duhaime’s team is hurting the balance sheet. If we compare the parity of 2018 and 2022 for the other four main parties, the percentage of female candidates has improved from 47% to 49%.

But including the Conservatives in the calculation, the representation of female candidates remains at 47%.

The PLQ (45%) and the PQ (42%) are currently in the parity zone (see it X-rays of candidates).

The good performance is mainly attributable to QS and the CAQ, which even have more women than men with 68 women for 55 men in the two political parties.

QS, which presents at least as many women as men in each election, has always embodied this value. For the CAQ, the shift took place in 2018. In 2014, Chief François Legault had not committed to appointing a joint government and declared that competence should take precedence in the choice of candidates. This discourse is today given by Éric Duhaime.

“There is pressure to present a joint team, but is it acquired? No, ”believes Mireille Lalancette, professor of political communication at UQTR.

« Major change »

“It’s a major change. It was the first time in 2018 that there were real efforts to achieve parity, explains political scientist Éric Montigny. And now, there are reversals (for the CAQ and QS), because it is the men who find themselves in the parity zone. »

Fixed-date elections seem to favor this change. Mr. Montigny cites the memoir of Martine Biron who, before becoming a candidate for the CAQ, did a master’s degree in political science under the direction of Thierry Giasson. “She concluded that fixed-date elections facilitate the recruitment of women because it is easier to plan things, with the family and their profession. »

Parity in the blue room

The presence of many women in the team of candidates is a first step in the objective of achieving parity in the National Assembly.

Thus in 2018, a first Parliament in a parity zone was elected by little (42%) and this presence was felt in the Blue Room. “When women are not sufficiently present in parliaments […], the realities of women are not taken into consideration or are less well understood, underlines political scientist Thierry Giasson. Since 2018, there are things that have been said about the realities of women in this Parliament that had never been said. »

He cites the creation of a special court on sexual assault and domestic violence. « It’s really the women who have pushed this issue, » says Mr. Giasson. He also mentions the case of the solidarity deputy Christine Labrie, who rose in the chamber to denounce the hateful comments and sexist insults that she and her female colleagues received on social media.

“We never talked about that. And this is a reality that women in politics have always lived with. There is contempt and systemic misogyny in our society even today, ”insists the professor.