WOMEN AND THE REFORM PARTY Stephanie L. Montgomery Department of Political Science Submitted in partial fulfillmrnt of the requirements for the degrer of Master of Arts Faculty of Graduatr Studies The University of Western Ontario London. Ontario January 1997 .DStephanie L. Montgomery 1997 National Library Bibliothèque nationale of Canada du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisitions et Bibliographie Services services bibliographiques 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON KtA ON4 Ottawa ON KIA ON4 Canada Canada Your hfe Votre relerence Oür hle Noire relerence The author has ganted a non- L'auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive licence allowing the exclusive permettant à la National Library of Canada to Bibliothèque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loan, distribute or sel1 reproduire, prêter, distribuer ou copies of this thesis in rnicroform, vendre des copies de cette thèse sous paper or electronic formats. la forme de microfiche/film, de reproduction sur papier ou sur format électronique. The author retains ownership of the L'auteur conserve la propriété du copyright in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protège cette thèse. thesis nor substantial extracts fiom it Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels may be printed or othenvise de celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son permission. autorisation. Abstract This thesis esplores somr of the attitudes toward women found within the Rdom Party. The thesis questions how the Rsform Party looks at Canadian rvomen and whai it would mean for Canadian Liornen if thrir party were to beconie the next fedcral government. Four cliaptrrs dse CUIIL~~I~CLIin ihis thesis and ihq expiore: rhe Reiorm Party idsology. the policies 01- the RrlOrni Pai-ty. the organizntion of the Rebrm Party and the rtlsctorül base of the part!,. .-\II chiiptrrs are written r+ith gender as the main focus. Various theoretical tiameworks are usd throughoiit the tirst thrre chaptrrs and important nwfindings on the grtndered aspects of Rctbrm l'art) supporters arc reporteci in the final chaptrr. The thesis çoncludrs b!; con timing tlir iindrocentrism ur male-çrntrredness ol'tlir Relorni Port). in its idrrology. pdic xid clcc tord blisc. E;qwords: Kc tom Party. Isomrn. women and parties. sexism and political partics Dedica tion This rnaster's thrsis is dedicatsd to my four graduate professors. Drs. Janine Brodic. Paul Nesbitt-Luking. Sid Noel and Richard Vernon who a11 enrichrd my understanding of political science in different ways. 1.0 Stcplien l'or 311 his discussions about ni). rcsearch. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Certitïcate of examination Abstract Dedication Table of Contents Introduction 1 The Rrform Party and Women: ldrologp -7 Reform Party Policies Violence Against Womrn Employmrnt Equity Multiculturalsim Aboriginal People Samr Sex Couples Child Care MP Accountability Medicare 3 Organization of the Reforrn Party 49 Why Women Are Marginalized in Parties 50 How Womrn Are Marginalized in Political Parties 54 Steps Takrn by Other Parties to Include Womrn 62 The Significance of More Womrn in Parties 65 4 Electoral Base of the Reform Paiy 7 1 Region and Community Size 73 Reform Support and Gendrr 74 Reform Support and Religion 75 Reform Support and Religiosity 77 Reform Support and Ethnicity 80 Reform Support and Education Attained 82 Reform Support and Marital Status 85 Reform Support and Ernployment 87 Reform Support and Age 90 Attitudes About Support for Canadian Womsn 92 Analysis of Variance 94 5 Conclusion: Women and Reform 102 Appendix - Rcform MP Interview Questions 1 07 Introduction This thrsis will invrstigate hithrrto little rxplored territos regarding the Reform Party and wmrn. Vrq littlc is known about the pany so far excrpt for a fe~bbrief acadrmic inwstigations and somr popular intrrpretations of the pany. As a populist part. committed to broad egalitririanism among the people. the Rrforrn Party has acquired a reputation of being anti-womiin. "l'he people" 1s prrsumably a group which includrs womrn. Whar Iittlc ~c do kiion about the Rctorrn Party suygésts that it is 3 party which is unsympathetic touard. ignorant ot: or cven hostik totvarcl wornen. Huwever. tèw substantial conclusions can be drawn with accuricy since LW currrntly have only liagmrntq and impressionistic rvidence. This thrsis is cm ~tttemptto resolvi: the paradox of this populist party. While the Rehrm Party may daim 3 dertain hind ot'eqiiiilit~in its wrds anci actions. it is my contention that it is also infi~rniedb> 'ln underl y ing androcentrism. Androcentrism is not merely ano ther word for overt sesism or rnisogyny. If it wrc just this. the Reform Party miyht eüsil) bc able to daim that it is frre frcm stich obi ious discriminrition. r\ndroçcntrisiii is a concept that wili be fiirthrr devrloprd within this thrsis: androcentrism means male-centered. Whrn something is androceritric. "the subject mattrr retlrcts only male concems. deals with male activity and male ambitions [rxclusively] and is dirrctrd away from issues involving or of concem to women."' Androcrntrism is particularly pro blematiç because women's concerns become marginalized and their contribution to socicty is trivialized within an androcentric discourse: women are eliniinated from the central focus of the theory. test or the discussion. The limited knowledgr we do have about the Refom Party I O'Brien in Beverley Thiele. "Female Invisibility in Androcentric Socioiogical Theo." The Insureent Sociologist. 1 l(2). Spring 1W., p.99. suggcsts that Reform is unsympathetic toward. unaware of. or sven inimical toward women. The term imdroccntrisin \\as thtirefore choscn to explore somr of the contradictions withiii the populist Rdom Party. Whrn we sa- the Rrform Party is an androcentric institution. it means rhat the implicit origin of its ideology and the premises on which i ts policies are elaboratrd. arc büsed upon male tixperiences. interests and perceptions of the world. As the thrsis unfolds and LW rxpiorr ihr idrolug> and policies ol lhe puty as wli as ihr womeri wiiu arc. menibers ui'tiic. pxty und its support base. wr will corne to drvelop a fuller appreçiation for the trrm. .A britif rriview of the litzrature is useful to appreciatci èsisting understandings of gendrr issiics in the çontrixt of the existinp publications on the Rrform Party. Trrwr Harrison and tlnrwy Krahn. Tom Flanagan. Stevr Patten and David Layçoçk put forth somr of the tirst iicadrmic insights into the nature of gender and the Reform Party. Trewr Harrison and Harw!, Knihn's "Populism and the Rise of the Reform Party in ~lbertrt"'is the only publication to date that dttals with somc of the attitudes of Reformrrs toward womrn. I-iarrison and Krahn set up 3 eendrr rquality index' to unveil somc of the attitudes Reformsrs have about womcn. The) b disçovrr in thrir sample that "Albertans lrss in agreement with statrments about gendrr cquality wre more likrly to vote ~eform.""Thq couple this finding with the average age of the Reforrn voter and conclude thüt "older .Albenans ma- have supponed the Reform Party because of thrir traditional attitudes towürd the family and the role of womrn in society".' WC are presented 7 Trevor Harrison and Harvey Krahn. "Populism and the Rise of the Reform Party in Alberta." Canadian Review of Sociology and Anthror~ologv.32(3), 1995. , The survey was done using 1345 randomly selected residents of Alberta over the age of 18 by telephone in Febniary and Mach 1991. The items used in the gender equality index wx "Men should take more responsibility for taking care of children". "More should be dcne by rovernrnents to promote equality for women in Canada". "The çovernment of Alberta should C legislate a pay rquity policy. that is. equal pay for work of equal value" and "It is time Alberta had a woman premier". Ibid.. p. 133-4. 1 Ibid.. p. 143. with this crucial fact about Reformer's attitudes but it is not irivestigatrd further. The reader is Mt wndering how the attitudes of Refonners compare to supporters nf other parties: how thesr attitudes art: manifestrd in Rrform Party discourse and policies: md how many women do. in fact. vote for the Rsform Party when such views cire held by party supporters. The thesis will rcfcr tu this research data Iatrr as ü point ddeparturr in the further investigation of what thc Tom Flanaglin's Waiting for the Wave: The Rcform Party of Canada and Preston !vllirinin$ is an all-inclusive examination of the Rrform Party. Flanagan picks up whrre Rrtorm supporters. The highlight of this book is the analysis of the Canadian National Election Study which gives the reader a detailed profile of the 'tyical' Reform supponer. Demographically. Fiünagan refus to Reforrn Party rnembership as "the tour bl's" and by this lie iiirans "married. middlr-qsd. niiddle-ç iass. men."- i-le does a quantitative anal y sis using thc 1993 Canadian National Elrction Study and notes that inrn are ü group that gave especially strong siippon to Reform.' It is disappointing that no further analysis is piwn to why the large yender discrepancy rxists in Reform support. Instead. Flanagan merel y concludes that the skwed griidcr outcome is not "surprising or sinister."" Flanagan continues that "al1 parties are skswed in difkrrnt ways.""' It is important to note that no other Canadian federal party is similarly imbalanced by gender. When the women of the Canadian electorate are proportionately . Ibid.. p. 1JO. t? Tom Flanagan. Waiting for the Wave: the Rrforrn Partv and Preston Manning. Toronto: Stoddart Publishing Company. 1995. Ibid.. p.33. Y ibid.. p. 158-160. I Ibid.. p.35. 1 O Ibid. 4 repressntrd in the other four Canadian parties. as will be noted in chapter four. wr cm obsrnrr: that somttthing in the Rsl'orm Pmy is not resonating with Canadian voters.