Peggy Nash: Women Winning Office

Despite the expansion of laws protecting formal equality and important recent strides, women continue to face many barriers to equal political representation in most democracies around the world. Men continue to comprise the majority of elected representatives, cabinet ministers and heads of government. Persistent male bias among many voters, unequal patterns of recruitment and promotion within party organizations, and media representations that promote the voices and perspectives of men are just some of the reasons.

How can women, and other social groups who are marginalized and underrepresented in our political life, break through these systemic barriers? What political strategies, institutional reforms and policy changes are necessary? And how can changing the social composition of our elected representatives and public officials empower our democracies to ensure genuine equality?

The labour rights and social justice activist Peggy Nash, the former president of and Member of Parliament for the New Democratic Party, explores these questions in conversation with Sanjay Ruparelia.