Green MLA Megan Mitton says that the New Brunswick Legislature is still not a welcoming place for women and marginalized communities. She has seen and experienced this firsthand but hopes she can help change things for future MLAs.
When Megan Mitton, MLA for Memramcook-Tantramar was first elected to the New Brunswick legislature in 2018, she became the first woman to ever be elected as a Green MLA in the province. “From the moment I was asked, I was excited about it,” Mitton says. “They say women need to be asked seven times before they run. I only needed to be asked once.” Many women never even consider going into politics, she says, but Mitton knew pretty early that she might become involved.
“They say women need to be asked seven times before they run. I only needed to be asked once.”
-Green MLA Megan Mitton
Mitton grew up in Sackville, N.B., and after studying international development, political science and women’s studies, she worked in the non-profit sector for over 10 years. “I was really focused on social justice issues, especially around gender and feminism, and then increasingly learning about climate change and the intersections with all of those things,” she says.
From her studies in international development, Mitton recalls reading about how the government keeps making poor decisions because they don’t understand what it’s like on the ground. “That was just a constant,” she says. She decided that she needed to work on the ground to understand people’s realities.
“For a long time, I struggled with this desire to change the system, to make an impact, to find ways [to] do better,” she says. “I’ve been in the streets protesting. I’ve worked in non-profits, I’ve done a lot of grassroots activism.” She couldn’t wait any longer.
That feeling of urgency was what convinced Mitton to finally try politics in 2014. “Let’s try within the system, within government, to make changes.” The way she sees it, change needs to happen both inside and outside government, and both are equally valuable. “What’s important is that you are following your values and your interests, and your skills… We need all kinds of different people doing all the different things.”
It may be true that all kinds of people doing all kinds of things is what’s needed for change, Mitton quickly discovered that the New Brunswick legislature is a space that is not designed for difference. From the lack of diversity among the MLAs representing to the physical infrastructure of government buildings designed for men and not for women (let alone persons with disabilities), accommodations are lacking.
“How does someone with a disability, how does someone with care-giving responsibilities, how do different people have access? And the answer is they don’t really have equitable access.”
– Green MLA Megan Mitton
It wasn’t until 1967 that the N.B. legislature saw its first woman elected to office. “The space was literally not built for women. There wasn’t a women’s bathroom until Brenda Robertson was elected, and then they made one,” says Mitton. “But it’s not even in the same location [as the men’s washroom], so I have to walk through the media scrum.”
Although 14 women now sit in the N.B. legislature, which is more than ever before, they still only make up 29 percent of MLAs, just below the often-cited 30 percent threshold recommended by the United Nations, and well below gender parity. Although the statistics for women in politics appear to be improving, there are currently no New Brunswick MLAs who are also people of colour, Indigenous or members of the LGBTQ+ community.
“We need diversity in our democracy,” says Mitton. “We need our legislature to represent our communities.”
Megan Leslie is a former NDP MP who was in office between 2008 and 2015 and was Deputy Leader of the federal NDP in 2012-2015, and she agrees with Mitton. “These are our laws. They should be made to consider all of us and not just what one group thinks is the best,” she says. “Representation also sends a message to the traditional power brokers that things are changing.”
The pace of change in the legislature is slow, however. For Mitton, it became even more apparent when she became pregnant and had a baby during the COVID-19 pandemic. “It wasn’t so much that me having a baby was the challenge. It was that the system’s not set up for that to happen,” she explains. It had been 24 years since former Liberal MLA Carolle De Ste-Croix gave birth in office 1997, was denied funds to hire help, and Mitton was still facing some of the same obstacles.
When Mitton found out she was pregnant, she contacted the Human Resources Department of the legislature and asked if there was a policy addressing pregnant MLAs. There wasn’t. “So, in a way, I helped craft some of what came into effect,” she says. With the help of staff, Mitton got a family room setup as well as changing tables in both the women’s and men’s bathrooms. But it wasn’t always easy: she had to fight for virtual sittings during the pandemic, for extra money to hire help, and for her baby to be allowed on the floor of the legislature.
“I had to plead my case for the Legislative Administrative Committee to give me some money so I could hire someone temporarily to help me to continue to do my job, basically, right after I’d had Henry, which was so ridiculous,” she says.
When Mitton and other MLAs requested virtual sittings because of the pandemic, she says she was thrown under the bus by other politicians. “[They] were like, ‘you should know what you’re getting into before you run for office.’ And I was like, ‘I did. And I still did it, and decided I wanted to change the system’.”
It’s no secret that women are treated differently than men in politics. Megan Mitton has experienced it herself and has read the studies that back it up. And before her, Megan Leslie spoke openly about her experiences as a woman in politics, and still does.
Hearing about other women’s experiences or reading about the studies that back these things up helps Megan Mitton keep things in perspective, she says. “It helps with not feeling gaslit with being like, it’s not in my head. This is a thing that’s happening right now,” she says.
For instance, she recalls quoting Greta Thunberg in the legislature to illustrate the urgency of the climate crisis, and being laughed at. She shrugged it off, saying “well I wouldn’t expect you guys to get it anyway.”
“When women [are] perceived to be angry or speaking strongly, they’re less likely to be believed, they’re less likely to be taken seriously,” says Mitton. A 2015 study found that while displaying anger tends to be socially beneficial for men, it does the opposite for women, diminishing their influence over others.
The reason for this may have deep cultural and historic roots, according to writer Amy Remeikis. Many of our stories and myths punish angry women, turning them into monsters and outcasts, she writes.
“As with much of womanhood, anger is framed through the male gaze. Men’s anger is perceived as just, while women’s anger is irrational- and so, when aimed at men, is usually unjust. An angry man is credible. An angry woman is difficult.”
–writer Amy Remeikis, in an article for The Guardian
There’s also research that backs up what Mitton says about the difficulties of being a politician and having children.
A report by Canada’s Standing Committee on the Status of Women noted that women’s abilities to balance family responsibilities with their political duties receive far more scrutiny than men’s private lives do when they run for office.
The same report addresses how the media often reinforces the stereotype of women as primary caregivers. For instance, women in politics are often asked about work-life balance while male politicians rarely receive this question.
“If [female politicians] aren’t paying attention to their kid, they look like they’re neglecting their kid. If they’re paying too much attention to their kid, they look like they are too focused on their kid. So they need to be halfway so that they’ll be taken seriously and people will think they can do both,” Mitton says.
This is something Megan Leslie is familiar with too. She says that although she was an MP over a decade ago, things are depressingly similar. “I was elected in 2008. It was a long time ago, but I used to say that my existence was a radical act, when there were over 300 MPs and less than 23% of them were women. And I was also a young woman. I was in my 30s. There were not many people who looked like me, so, sometimes just existing pushed the envelope.”
However, both Leslie and Mitton think space is slowly opening for more young women in politics, and more diverse candidates in general. But it’s still not easy.
“You can’t walk in there. I didn’t just walk in there. I spent years campaigning and building and getting elected and building people’s trust so that they would be like, oh, that young woman” and know who she is, says Mitton.
Leslie says that while society is becoming more open to diverse voices in politics, other aspects of political life are more difficult than ever. Social media and the 24-hour news cycle are challenges for any politician. “And then you layer gender, and you layer race, and you layer disability, and you layer sexuality, you layer all these things on top of that,” she says, and things get even more difficult.
Mitton hopes she can help pave the way for more diverse candidates in the future. She wants to make it a little easier for those who come next.
Sometimes, pushing for change is difficult and there are many obstacles in the way, but persistence is key. “We’ll try again. Try it a bit differently. Try it in a different way. Try it six months later. And sometimes you try to change things and it won’t happen. But it’s still worth trying, she says. “Maybe the next time we will have built the argument enough.”
Interested in running for politics?
Check out this toolkit of resources for women, and find out how to become a candidate in Canada from Elections Canada or the Public Service Commission.
What does an MLA do anyway?
- An MLA- Member of the Legislative Assembly is an elected official who represents a given geographical area (riding) in provincial politics.
- An MLA’s work has two primary components: constituency work (in their home riding) and legislative work (in the provincial legislature)
- In their riding, MLAs help people who live in their area. Your MLA can help you navigate government systems, advocate for you and others in your community, and help solve problems. Even if your MLA is not part of the ruling party, they still have a voice in the legislature and can still influence government decisions.
- In the legislature, MLAs collaborate to create laws and policies. Constituency work informs work in the legislature.
- For some rural areas, MLAs are the first level of government representation (i.e., in communities where there is no municipal representation)
Thank you for inspiring women and mothers! We need more to represent our needs in politics!