News release

Today's Goal: More Women in Public Office

Status of Women

More women, in all their diversity, running for elected office. That's the point of Votes for Women, a new guide produced by the Nova Scotia Advisory Council on the Status of Women. The advisory council launched the guide today, May 17, at Province House in Halifax.

"If women are not at the table, their experiences and perspectives may be missed," said Carolyn Bolivar-Getson, Minister responsible for the Status of Women. "We must seize opportunities to be active in decision making about legislation, policy and programs."

She said that decisions about foreign policy, economic development, sustainable communities, health care and family law, among other areas, directly affect women and their families. Yet women are not fully represented in the decision-making process.

The guide was developed to help women who are interested in politics get involved in the process so that they can influence those decisions. It contains tips on fundraising, campaigning and dealing with the media.

It is one avenue the advisory council has taken to increase women's participation in politics. The council has also hosted six workshops on women's political involvement in communities across the province during the past two years. This fall, they will hold a non-partisan campaign school for women.

Women now have some influence in legislative and policy decisions in Nova Scotia. Six women were elected to the House of Assembly in the 2003 election, more than at any other time in this province. However, that figure represents only 12 per cent of the seats.

A critical mass -- at least 33 per cent -- is needed to ensure that women's perspectives are adequately represented, and half the seats should be held by women to achieve full political equality.

Women's political involvement in Nova Scotia has grown slowly. It began with Gladys Porter, a former town councillor in Kentville, who became the first woman in the province to win a seat in the legislature in 1960. Since then, the number of women winning provincial seats has fluctuated from election to election.

More women campaigned for seats in 1999 than in 2003, when more women won seats.

The guide is available by calling the Advisory Council on the Status of Women toll-free at 1-800-565-8662. It will also be available on the website, www.gov.ns.ca/staw , beginning on May 18.