Donald Trump's win a 'setback' for women, say N.S. advocates
"This campaign was just so rancid it'll just be that much more difficult to get women to run"
Women's groups and academics in Nova Scotia are recoiling at the news that Donald Trump will be the next president of the U.S., saying his win will be a big setback in recruiting other women into politics.
Meredith Ralston, a professor of women's studies and politics at Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax, says she went to bed Tuesday night assuming Hillary Clinton would win and had planned to have a discussion forum regarding the first woman president on Wednesday morning.
Ralston says she was stunned when she woke up and found her planned topic was no longer possible.
"I think it's a real setback for women in politics. I think it's a setback for women in the United States," she said.
Ralston is worried potential politicians will look at the way Hillary Clinton was treated — and how voters responded — and they'll choose a different path.
"This campaign was just so rancid it'll just be that much more difficult to get women to run," she said.
Working harder
At Nova Scotia's Province House, one-third of the MLAs are women, including Lenore Zann.
She spent several years living in the U.S. She said she couldn't believe voters chose an unqualified, controversial man over a woman with experience.
"I honestly believe that misogyny is alive and well," she said. "I think women have to work a thousand times harder to get a tiny bit of credit."
Zann says she thinks this election result sends a discouraging message to young women wanting to enter politics.
Parity 'doesn't exist'
The executive director of the YWCA in Halifax notes that politics in Halifax hasn't achieved gender parity, noting only two city councillors are women.
"There simply is a lot of misogyny, and a lot of sexism and a lot of belief that women aren't necessarily to be in this role," said Miia Suokonautio.
She said the fact Donald Trump made abortion an election issue in this day and age shows gender parity is still a long way off.
"People had assumed that women voters would align with Hillary as African American voters had aligned with Obama, but as I was watching the results last night, I said to my husband that's not a given partially because I think we have a very, very entrenched public belief that women's issues are not actually real issues and that we've reached gender equality ... that is absolutely not the case."
Looking to 2020
Ralston says there's only one way to look at Trump's win from a positive light.
"Maybe people will see now see the sexist and racist society that we are actually, they'll actually accept that and mobilize to do something about it," she said.
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