Gender and the Electoral Opportunity Structure in the Canadian Provinces

• DOI: 10.1177/106591299805100105
• Date: 01 March 1998
• Author: Donley T. Studlar,Richard E. Matland
• Published date: 01 March 1998
• Subject Matter: Articles

117

Gender

and

the

Electoral

Opportunity

Structure

in

the

Canadian

Provinces

RICHARD

E.

MATLAND,

UNIVERSITY

OF

HOUSTON

DONLEY

T.

STUDLAR,

WEST

VIRGINIA

UNIVERSITY.

We

use

multivariate

analyses

to

test

hypotheses

concerning

the

elec-

toral

opportunity

structure

for

women

across

a

twenty-year

period

of

Canadian

provincial

elections.

We

find

that

party,

political

context,

and

social

variables

affect

the

likelihood

that

a

woman

is

elected

to

a

provin-

cial

parliament.

While

similarities

between

U.S.

state

legislative

elections

and

Canadian

provincial

elections

are

found,

there

are

distinct

differences

across

the

two

polities,

especially

concerning

where

women

first

made

inroads

in

winning

representation.

While

women

first

gained

a

beach-

head

in

small

amateur

legislatures

in

rural

states

in

the

United

States,

in

Canada

they

first

won

significant

numbers

of

seats

in

metropolitan

areas.

We

find

there

continues

to

be

great

differences

across

riding

types

with

women

doing

much

worse

in

rural

ridings

than

either

urban

or

metro-

politan

ridings.

The

implications

of

these

differences

for

redistricting

are

considered.

Canadian

courts

have

generally

been

sympathetic

to

plans

that

insure

representation

of

geographic

"communities

of

interest,"

even

when

this

has

meant

overrepresentation

of

rural

areas

and

under-

representation

of

urban

areas.

We

argue

that

a

consequence

of

this

policy

is

that

Canadian

provinces

risk

underrepresenting

women,

a

nonterritorial

"community

of

interest."

Most

analyses

of

representation

by

gender

in

democratic

polities

in

recent

years

have

been

concerned

with

central-level

legislatures.

Although

there

is

NOTE:

An

earlier

version

of

this

article

was

presented

at

the

Midwest

Canadian

Studies

Association

meetings

in

Madison,

Wisconsin,

October

11-13,

1996.

Support

for

the

research

was

provided

by

the

Canadian

Faculty

Research

Program

through

the

Canadian

Embassy,

Washington,

D.C.

Further

assistance

was

provided

by

Deborah

Wituski,

Henry

Rieke,

George

Krause,

and

Al

Olivetti,

all

at

the

time

at

West

Virginia

University.

118

an

abundant

literature

on

political

recruitment

and

representation

by

gender

for

state

legislatures

in

the

United

States,

there

is

relatively

little

on

sub-cen-

tral levels

for

other

countries

(see

Darcy,

Welch,

and

Clark

1994;

Welch

and

Studlar

1990;

Raaum

1995).

Analyses

of

representation

by

gender

in

the

Ca-

nadian

provinces

usually

have

been

province-specific

and

limited

to

a

single

point

in

time.

Existing

data

analyses

have

tended

to

only

consider

one

or

two

explanatory

variables.

This

article

provides

the

first

comprehensive,

longitu-

dinal,

multivariate

comparison

of

representation

by

gender

in

all

ten

prov-

inces

of

Canada.

We

focus

on

the

question

of

what

conditions,

political

and

social,

facilitate

the

election

of

women

candidates

and

how

these

conditions

have

changed

over

time.

THEORETICAL

PROBLEM

AND

APPROACH

Political

recruitment

can

be

conceived

of

as

having

a

supply

and

a

de-

mand

side.

Individual

characteristics

such

as

social

background,

resources,

and

ambition

affect

the

supply

side.

A

number

of

conditions

influence

the

demand

for

candidates

to

run

for

office.

The

electoral

opportunity

structure

refers

to

those

long-term

conditions

external

to

individuals

that

affect

the

de-

mand

for

candidates

and

affect

candidates’

ability

to

achieve

official

positions

(Schlesinger

1966;

Carroll

1994;

Norris

and

Lovenduski

1995;

Welch

and

Studlar

1996).

Among

the

factors

that

define

the

electoral

opportunity

struc-

ture

are

the

party

context,

the

political

context,

and

the

social

context

(Norris

1993).

The

party

context

refers

to

internal

party

conditions

such

as

party

rules

about

the

representation

of

groups

when

fielding

candidates

or

general

party

ideology

that

can

affect

which

candidates

are

seen

as

attractive.

The

political

context

refers

to

structural

factors

such

as

the

number

of

offices,

the

level

of

competition

for

office,

turnover

rates

among

existing

office

holders,

and

the

electoral

system

that

can

affect

the

electoral

opportunities

for

candi-

dates.

Finally,

the

social

context

refers

generally

to

the

political

culture,

social

values

and

attitudes

that

affect

the

demands

for

various

characteristics

of

can-

didates.

Electoral

opportunity

structure

does

not

refer

to

short-term

campaign

factors

that

can

affect

individual

outcomes

such

as

an

effectively

run

cam-

paign

or

positions

on

campaign

issues.

While

the

electoral

opportunity

structure

is

fairly

stable

in

an

advanced

industrial

democracy

such

as

Canada,

it

can

chance

through

social

evolution,

because

institutional

rules

are

changed,

or

in

response

to

demands

for

in-

creased

access

by

an

effectively

organized

insurgent

group.

For

instance,

in

several

countries

the

electoral

opportunity

structure

has

changed

through

in-

ternal

and

external

pressure

being

placed

on

political

parties

to

increase

rep-

resentation

through

the

introduction

of

affirmative

action

and

quota

policies

for

women

candidates

(Norris

1994;

Matland

1995).

This

article

examines