Predicting election results is a mug’s game, but one thing can be
stated with certainty about this fall’s Canadian Wheat Board director
elections.
All the winners will be men.
In fact, so will all the losers.
That’s because there are no women among the 22 candidates seeking
election to the marketing agency’s board of directors.
It is the second wheat board election in a row in which that has been
the case. In 2002, all 15 candidates were men. In the inaugural CWB
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vote in 1998, there were two women among the 64 candidates, but neither
garnered more than six percent of the vote in her district.
That adds up to two women out of 101 candidates over the past three
elections, a participation rate of 1.98 percent.
It’s a statistic that disappoints and worries women who are involved in
farm organizations.
“Obviously it is a concern because there are lots of women who could do
a good job on the wheat board,” said Noreen Johns, former executive
director of the Saskatchewan Women’s Agricultural Network.
Cecilia Olver, vice-president of Agricultural Producers Association of
Saskatchewan, said she’s not surprised that women have been reluctant
to run for the wheat board.
“The whole grain industry is still considered to be a bit of an old
boys’ club,” she said.
Shannon Storey, women’s president of the National Farmers Union, said
the lack of female candidates reflects the fact that it’s difficult for
women to make the kind of time commitment required of a CWB director.
“It’s indicative of the fact that when a woman has to make a choice
between farm work and non-farm income to maintain the farm on the one
hand, or seeking leadership in farm organizations on the other, the
social pressures are such that she’s still likely to take the
non-public role,” Storey said.
Other reasons cited for the lack of female candidates include an
attitude that it’s a man’s role to be involved in farm organizations,
the sometimes nasty and partisan nature of CWB politics puts off many
women, and they are less driven by the ego that prompts men to seek
election.
While no women have ever won election, there is a female presence at
the board table. One of the agency’s five appointed directors is Bonnie
DuPont, chair of the board’s governance and management resources
committee.
CWB chair Ken Ritter said he’s disappointed that no women decided to
become candidates.
He said it’s not inconceivable that some day the board might take steps
to encourage women to run, but it also has to be careful not to be seen
to be interfering in the election process.
“We don’t want to take away from the right of individuals both male and
female to run for office,” he said. “That’s difficult to balance with
gender equality.”
Storey would like to see the board, and other farm groups, make more of
an effort to get women involved.
“If you plan for women’s inclusion, it’s much more likely to happen
than if you don’t,” she said.
