British Columbia has elected its first ever majority-female legislature, with 49 MLAs identifying as female following the 2024 election.
The 49 MLAs represent 52.7 per cent of the 93-seat house, with 31 female MLAs from the B.C. NDP and 18 from the B.C. Conservatives.
It’s the first time that’s happened at the provincial or federal level in Canadian history, according to advocacy organization Equal Voice.
The legislature of the Northwest Territories became the first in Canada to have a majority of female members after a byelection in 2021. The majority swung back to men after the 2023 territorial election.
Federally, female MPs make up 31 per cent of the House of Commons, according to Statistics Canada.
News of the majority-female legislature has drawn praise from an advocate and a former cabinet minister, who both said they hoped the policies that result will be more representative of the population at large.
“I think you’re seeing now that people are less likely to evaluate whether a candidate is a man or a woman and simply ask themselves, ‘Are they a good candidate?’ And that’s a real positive thing,” said Mary Polak, who held several ministerial posts with the B.C. Liberals.
Polak, who was first elected in 2005 and served until 2020, said it had been a “long, long path to get here,” with women representing 43 per cent of the province’s MLAs in the previous legislature.
“If you look back on previous elections, there have been elections where we had large, large numbers of women who were nominated by parties and weren’t able to achieve success in the general election,” she told Amy Bell, guest host of CBC’s On The Coast.
“So it’s encouraging that voters are doing that. It’s encouraging that the efforts that started years and years ago have actually made a difference in recruitment.”
Former B.C. Liberal cabinet minister Mary Polak says that the final results of the 2024 election show that the legislature is finally mirroring the province’s population, after years of male-dominated houses. Women will hold the majority of seats in the new provincial legislature.
Advocate praises parties
Chi Nguyen, the executive director at Equal Voice, said that having a legislature that is representative of the province’s population could lead to a different working culture on the floor of the house.
“We do know that, you know, when we have a diversity of thinking and lots of different opinions around the table that we tend to see different kinds of policy outcomes come forward,” she said.
A milestone worth celebrating: 49 women are set to serve in the <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/BCLeg?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#BCLeg</a> 43rd Parliament, marking the first time in BC’s history that more women than men will take their seat in the Legislative Chamber (also a first for a Canadian provincial legislature) <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/WomensHistoryMonth?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#WomensHistoryMonth</a> <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/BCpoli?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#BCpoli</a> <a href=”https://t.co/J2sYdxAs4X”>pic.twitter.com/J2sYdxAs4X</a>
—@BCLegislature
Nguyen said the fact that B.C. was the first province to have a majority-female legislature was likely due to the B.C. NDP’s slate, which was around 60 per cent women, according to the party. But the advocate praised all the parties in the election.
“It’s good for every political party to involve more women and community members that reflect the population,” she said.
Nguyen said that politicians and governments have a lot of work to do to create more trust in democracy and systems — and having more representative governments would help build public trust.