30 Years Later, We Still Need a Women’s Debate – Huffington Post

To debate or not to debate — that is the question?

Election fever has begun in Canada well before the election call. So much for the concept of a six-week election blitz. One of the issues floating through all of the talk is a push for a leaders’ debate on women’s issues similar to the televised one held on August 15, 1984. In 1984 few could imagine that a need would exist for another debate in 2015. Surely all of the issues facing women in Canada would be resolved by then!

Sadly this is not the case. Canada, once a leader respecting advancement of women has slipped behind other countries. The World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap report 2014 listed Canada as 19th in the world behind Burundi and South Africa. This was down from Canada’s 14th place ranking in 2006. The report measures a country’s progress respecting women’s advancement in four areas — educational attainment, economic participation and opportunity, political empowerment and health and survival. While Canada ranks first on educational attainment and most health outcomes, the lag occurs in economic participation and opportunity and political empowerment.

Read More: http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/clare-beckton/election-debate-women_b_7895984.html