What about women?

One of the most common questions I'm asked, maybe because of my own gender, is whether Samara's exit interviews take a particular look at women in politics.

The answer is yes and no. Yes, because we are interviewing women (our pool, which draws form those who left public life during or after the last two Parliaments, includes 36 women, or about 26% of our total interviewees). This is a bit higher than our current Parliament, where women comprise just over 22% of the total.

No, because we're not specifically asking them to talk about their life in politics as women. We're asking them about their life in politics. Ditto our approach with all possible sub-groups of politicians (e.g., immigrants, Liberals, Maritimers, lawyers, backbenchers etc.).

We're in the midst of analyzing the results of our first 65 interviews, and we're interested to see how much variability there is in perspectives based on gender and on other variables.

In the interim, have a closer look at some facts about the female MPs in our interview pool and see how they compare with the larger group. For example, the women in our sample:

• Were 47 years old when they entered Parliament and 56 when they left;

• Served for 8.75 years (slightly less than the overall group, which was just under 10 years);

• Were more likely to be defeated. 56% of the women lost their election, where it was 48% for the larger group;

• Had a lot of legislative experience. 10 women were cabinet ministers and 18 were parliamentary secretaries; 4 served in both capacities;

• Are extremely educated. 78% publicly listed their college or university degrees;

• Were largely from the Liberal party. 3 were from the Bloc, 2 were Conservatives, 4 were from the NDP and 27 were Liberals.