More women constituency party presidents - A strategy for increasing the number of women candidates in Canada?

The purpose of this article is to explore the idea that the gender of const ituency party presidents makes a difference in the recruitment of women as candidates in federal politics in Canada, notably by examining the attitude s of female and male party gatekeepers towards the presence of women in pol itics. Two hypotheses inspired us. The first suggests that female president s are more likely than male presidents to assess candidates using traits mo re likely to be possessed by women. The second hypothesis proposes that wom en are more likely than men to support measures for increasing the number o f women in politics. The first hypothesis is not confirmed: female presiden ts do not appreciate feminine traits any more than male presidents. The sec ond is only partly confirmed. Far from being the only variable to influence support for measures promoting women candidates, gender appears to be a se condary determinant when the variables of political party and the feminist consciousness are taken into account. Nevertheless, it would be a mistake t o neglect the gender variable because, depending on the political party, a woman president can make a difference, especially when it comes to the Righ t and Centre parties.