Quebec Women and Legislative Representation

QUEBEC WOMEN AND LEGISLATIVE REPRESENTATIONS Manon Tremblay. Translated by Kathe Roth Vancouver: UBC Press, 2010 The politics of representation is complicated, but few take the time to consider how complicated it really is. Manon Tremblay is one of those few, and with the recent translation of her 2005 work Quebec Women and Legislative Representation into English, the non-Francophones in the field now have access to Tremblays masterful resource. The work, which theorizes ideas and analyzes data pertaining to women's underrepresentation in political governance, has a broader appeal than its title would suggest. While offering an in-depth study of the Quebec case, it enters a discourse which is global in scope: how most effectively to increase women's representation in legislatures? Tremblay is among the key theorists in this field, and the book is destined to become a key text in Canadian political discourse. The approach is methodical: it breaks down the question into its component variables (role of parties, role of electoral system, qualities of candidates, impact of women representatives, and much more) and addresses the significance of each variable, at both the provincial and federal level. Although Tremblay has a clear predilection for statistical analysis, the work is accessible and relevant for those with a more philosophical and qualitative bent. The first section of the book--a history of the Quebec suffrage movement--offers an unexpectedly gripping narrative; the book then gives way to denser theoretical debates. Tremblay does not so much provide answers as provide evidence: there are never any clear answers to big questions, but the value of this work lies in offering us a summation of the existing evidence and data. One thread which does emerge is the significant role of political parties in Canadian and Quebec politics: while many activists flag Canadas increasingly stale electoral model as a problem, Tremblay demonstrates the true problem--and potential--for women's representation may lie in party selection processes more so than in voting reform. She does, however, assess various proposals for voting and electoral reform, and often from a comparative perspective. Of course, the politics of representation, being political, is a field that is constantly in flux, and no sooner does an exhaustive work of research appear in print than a dozen new political happenings occur to challenge and question its key findings. This is of course a positive thing: it is what keeps academics employed and encourages us to write new and updated versions. A key question for the next edition of the book would be how the recent NDP electoral success at the federal level fits into the picture. The surprise success of the NDP--especially in Quebec--left researchers in many fields distraught, for it upset the careful theoretical models which require so many years of work (and, if one is lucky, years of electoral consistency) to construct. No less so with the question of women's representation in Quebec: the election of a non-traditional (in Quebec) party, coupled with the election of a number of women who are in stark contrast to all traditional models of elected women (young, limited experience in politics, in some cases with little to no involvement in local community or civil society) demonstrates the limits of models. …

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