The Real Reasons Women Don’t Run For Office

The secret to The Onion’s humour lies mainly in the fact it is anchored in truth. One of my favourite pieces – “Man finally put in charge of struggling feminist movement” sees 53 year-old management consultant, Buck, take the helm of feminism and finally bringing some rigour, a head for numbers and much-needed clarity to the movement. Without a silly, emotional woman in charge, feminism achieves its goals in just two years.

This week’s incarnation of The Onion comes from Scott Gilmore, who wonders why women aren’t running for political office, when it’s so very easy (all the men are doing it, after all).

His helpful advice is ‘quit moaning about sexism and find a way to jump those barriers’. If you don’t have time, make time. No money? Raise it. No networks? Build ’em. It’s that easy ladies. Goodness knows why you daft things didn’t think of it earlier. Sometimes it just takes a man to talk some sense into us, I suppose.

Let’s start with the meta issue. One day, a man will have an idea for his national column and say, “wait, I have very little expertise on this topic. Maybe I’m not the person to write it. Perhaps my voice doesn’t add anything to the debate, and let’s be honest, the world doesn’t need more white men’s thinkpieces”. That day is not today.

Now let’s ask ourselves why women don’t run for office. Is it because our little ladybrains don’t know it only costs $200 to enter our candidacy? Or is it because we face systemic barriers that generally don’t exist for men?

The crux of the problem with Scott’s piece is that it individualises systemic sexism, and places the onus on women to solve our own oppression.

It doesn’t speak to the lack of affordable childcare, or the fact that women still do the bulk of household chores. It ignores the role of mentorship and training, provided by organisations like Equal Voice and the Canadian Labour Congress, in equipping women with the networks and skills men already have.

It doesn’t talk about why women may not want to waste their time running for unwinnable seats – sometimes all that’s available to us. Or the deeply entrenched societal attitudes towards women in power. The discussion of our outfits on the campaign trail. The ‘concern’ about how our children will cope. The soft portfolios we’re expected to handle, like housing and health. The sexual harassment, the media coverage, or the family-unfriendly hours.

It doesn’t deal with the reasons girls start lacking confidence in their abilities well before high school. “Lack confidence?”, Gilmore asks. “Find it”, is his answer (if it helps, I hear Shoppers has a two-for-one deal on confidence this week. Plus you get double the Optimum points).

Later on twitter, Scott addressed some of the criticism, saying if your partner doesn’t do his fair share of household chores, you should get a new partner. Fantastic and totally realistic solution! Because everyone knows single parenting is easy peasy, and completely compatible with running for office!

As for women needing to accept we can’t have it all, I wonder when we ever thought that was true. Recent research shows it isn’t kids holding back women’s careers, it’s our male partners. Women can’t have it all for the very reason that men are currently busy taking it all.

And when you tell women, “sorry about that endemic discrimination. Nothing we can do about it. You’ll just have to work harder”, the only women who can go that extra mile are those with the resources. Wealthy women with supportive partners. Women who can afford nannies, or who have family willing to pick up the slack. So you shut out women of colour, low-income women, and women who aren’t connected to the establishment.

I know a number of amazing women who have run for office – I’ve worked for them, I’ve run their campaigns, I’m friends with them, they are my family. They ‘leaned in’, and against the odds, they won. That doesn’t mean their experience was easy, or that because they made it, we shouldn’t remove the unfair barriers they faced. Tackling the systemic barriers that prevent women from entering politics creates a flowdown that benefits all women. Telling women they need to suck it up and try harder means only certain women will be able to push against the tide.

Oh, and if you’re a commissioning editor, next time a man submits a piece lecturing women on what they’re doing wrong, ask him to suggest a woman to write that piece instead.

Lauren Dobson-Hughes is a former political staffer, and current President of Planned Parenthood Ottawa. She can be found at @ldobsonhughes