Women quit politics over feeling like “office plants”: study

Women are voluntarily leaving politics not because of sexism, double standards or work-life balance, but because they feel under-utilised, according to a new study.

Historian Alexandre Dumas was commissioned to conduct the study titled “Why do women leave politics?” by the women's committee of the Cercle des ex-parlementaires de l'Assemblée Nationale after a wave of departures in 2022.

According to his interviews with 21 former elected women, they had the impression of playing the “office plant”, he explained in parliament, borrowing the famous expression of former CAQ MNA turned Conservative Claire Samson.

At her last press briefing in June 2022, Samson shocked many by declaring that MNAs were treated "like plants" in the Salon bleu and that she had personally toiled harder as a 17-year-old at Da Giovanni.

According to Dumas, Samson — who was outraged at having to ask pre-scripted questions in parliamentary committee — “perfectly illustrates the frustration provoked by the feeling of playing a ceremonial role.”

“Women who leave politics ... feel that their skills are not recognised and that they have no other use than to be present in the House to ensure a quorum, ... in other words, to play the role of 'office plant'”, Dumas wrote.

“They're asked to read lines of communication to journalists, to vote on bills they haven't had time to read and on which they're not asked to have an opinion anyway, they're given the questions they have to read in parliamentary committee,” he told The Canadian Press.

Men may well share this frustration, but unlike women, they tend to want to stay in office, he said.

He points out that nearly two-thirds of officials who did not run for re-election in 2022 were women, even though they made up only 44 per cent of the House's representatives at the time of the dissolution.

“More men make politics a career,” he said. "(Women) end up asking themselves: 'Why are we making these sacrifices? Why are we doing this?'”

There are obstacles to women's perseverance in politics: sexism, microaggressions, double standards in the media, cyberstalking, and work-life balance, according to the researcher.

“However, the interviews do not give the impression that these factors were decisive,” Dumas wrote.

“It's when they feel they can't play their role well, or that their position could be filled by someone else without it making a difference, that they make the decision to leave.”

Revisiting the role of the MP

Former MNA and PQ minister Marie Malavoy, who is now involved with the Cercle des ex-parlementaires, believes that a collective rethink is in order.

"We've got a problem here," she said. "We've been working for years to get women into politics, to attract them ... but if they get in and don't make it ... we're no further ahead ... It's a basket full of holes.”

In 2022, government house leader Simon Jolin-Barrette, pledged to carry out parliamentary reform, particularly to enhance MNAs' statuses.

He proposed creating a deliberative chamber parallel to the Salon bleu, the Chambre des affaires citoyennes, to hear “MNAs' business” (including that of the governing party).

It also envisaged “a new section offering an additional forum for parliamentarians to debate, among other things, bills that do not emanate from the government”.

For the project to come to fruition, discussions must still be held with the other parties represented in the National Assembly.

As part of his research, between November 2023 and May 2024, Dumas interviewed 21 female politicians who chose not to stand for re-election in 2018 and 2022.

It has received financial support from the Secrétariat à la Condition féminine, the minister of justice and the minister of immigration, francisation and integration. 

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Oct. 11, 2024.