Women in power: Is the tide turning?

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 09/08/2016 (3440 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Last month in New York City, Faiza Saeed made history.

A veteran lawyer with an impeccable record, Saeed was named the first female presiding partner at Cravath, Swaine & Moore, a venerable 200-year-old Wall Street law firm that has been involved in some of the biggest and most valuable corporate mergers and acquisitions in business history.

How rare was Saeed’s appointment? According to the National Association of Women Lawyers, only three of the 200 largest law firms in the U.S. had female managing or presiding partners.

Is Saeed’s appointment the start of something big? Whether it’s corporate head offices or the seats of political power, women are underrepresented in leadership roles. And given Saeed’s appointment means only four of the 200 largest American law firms have women now serving as managing partners, it’s hard to peg this as the beginning of some sort of tidal wave of change.

And yet, other events brewing could dramatically change the way we look at women in power.

The most notable, of course, is the fact Hillary Clinton has become the first woman to be nominated as a candidate for president by a major U.S. political party. If opinion polls are any indication, she is poised to make even more history this November as perhaps the first female president.

It is difficult to assess at this point exactly how electing a female president will affect the American psyche — largely because American voters appear prepared to elect Clinton, but only as the lesser of two evils.

Clinton is being effectively assailed by Republican nominee Donald Trump as a “crook” worthy of criminal prosecution, largely for her decision to maintain, and then use, a personal email server to communicate confidential government information while she served as secretary of state.

The FBI has dismissed the idea of prosecuting Clinton, but opinion surveys clearly show the public is concerned about the former first lady’s moral compass. And when a man with only a casual acquaintance with ethics and morals can portray you as a crook, you know you’ve done something wrong.

Still, it is worth asking: is Clinton a target of these allegations because she’s really a crook? Or is it just convenient rhetoric used by her political enemies to undermine her in the lead-up to the election? Or, is it because she’s a woman?

For those who may suspect, or even fear, the latter explanation, consider how few American and Canadian women have risen to the top of the political power structure. In both countries, women have governed at the state and provincial level. However, at the federal level, it’s a much different story.

Until Clinton, no major political party in the U.S. had chosen a female leader. In Canada, we have a slightly better record. Emphasis on slightly.

In 1993, Kim Campbell led the Progressive Conservatives, and served as prime minister, for a little under four-and-a-half months. She lost badly to the Liberals in the November federal election, and resigned her post a month later. Since then, no contending party in Canada has had a woman lead them into electoral battle.

Could that change? The federal Liberal party does not seem in a rush to replace the youthful and dynamic Justin Trudeau. So we can expect that party to remain firmly in the hands of a man. A feminist man, but a man nonetheless.

The NDP, looking for a new leader as well, has chosen women to lead them in the past. However, right now the list of people not running for the NDP leadership is longer than the list of people who still may run. If there is a charismatic woman out there with a burning desire for the job, it could be hers for the taking.

In fact, the Conservative party probably has the best chance of putting a woman in charge before the next election.

Although the field is still fluid, Ontario MP Kelly Leitch has taken an early and newsworthy lead in fundraising among committed leadership candidates. In early August, the party reported she had raised nearly $250,000, far more than the other two contenders — MPs Maxime Bernier and Michael Chong — combined.

The Winnipeg-born orthopedic surgeon has also commanded attention for the high-profile advisers she has brought on board, several of whom were behind the successful campaigns of former Toronto mayor Rob Ford and current Toronto Mayor John Tory. She appears to be in the race to win it.

Does she have the support and mettle to take the Tory crown? Party insiders believe she has a lead in fundraising because she was the first candidate to start raising money and because many other candidates, such as MP Tony Clement, haven’t really applied themselves yet. Once those other candidates start actively fundraising, the sources said, Leitch will look a lot less impressive.

For now, all we can do is chart the small victories by courageous women such as Saeed who are making inroads. Not enough, and not quickly enough, to qualify as a wave of change. But enough, perhaps, that we can start to change the image we have of the people who are qualified to lead us.

dan.lett@freepress.mb.ca