The perception of the role of women in politics in Canada: The case of female councillors in Quebec in 1997

This article deals with the role of women in politics in Canada, more speci fically with the forces which mold the perceptions that female city council lors in Quebec have of that role. The article examines five hypotheses rela ting to the idea that the perceptions of women's role in politics vary acco rding to: (a) the social characteristics of the female city councillors; (b ) the size of the municipality (and consequently the level of competition f or a council seat); (c) the proportion of women elected to the city council ; (d) the female city councillors' perspectives towards feminism; (e) their personal experience of discrimination. These hypotheses were verified usin g a questionnaire mailed to all female city councillors (N = 1,747) and to a sample of male city councillors (n = 1,247) of all Quebec municipalities, between the months of February and May 1997: 77.8 per cent of the women an d 66.2 per cent of the men responded to the questionnaire. The last two hyp otheses are the most convincing in order to explain the perceptions of the role of women in politics: personal experiences of discrimination obviously influence these perceptions, but other forces also play a significant role , notably perspective towards feminism.