Astonishing as it may seem to some, the supposedly progressive political party in Newfoundland and Labrador isn’t the one with the most women as candidates nominated thus far in the current election.
Nope.
The Grits are tops with one in three.
The Dippers are in second place with one in five.
Both those parties have candidates in place in about half the total number of seats up for grabs in October.
The incumbent Tories have all their candidates in place and, at last count, they had something like one in eight who were women. Six women among 48 candidates, and all of them incumbents who have been in office since at least 2003.
That’s rather curious development for a province where, not so long ago, people were marvelling at the fact that all three political party leaders in the province were women.
Of course, no one seemed to notice that neither of them got their job as the result of an open competition, but that’s another subject for another day. Let’s just say women in politics is a touchy subject for some people.
For now, try pondering the fact that if the conventional wisdom holds, we’ll probably wind up with the same women – let alone the same number of them – back in the House after October as we have right now.
You’ve come a long way, baby.
Yeah.
Right.
- srbp -