McQUARRIE – New female politicians breaking the business-as-usual mould

IN RESEARCHING my previous column on abortion http://tinyurl.com/yy77xdmn, I couldn’t help but feel some important pieces to the puzzle were again being ignored. Not the debate itself so much as a minor but still curious statistical anomaly, a less than distinguished track record spanning thousands of years and an unrivalled and voracious appetite for power.

The curious statistical anomaly is a gender inequality and, although minor, still puts males in the minority with a 49 per cent share of the western world’s population. In light of that minority position, are others not justified in questioning why my gender, the side with less votes than the other, gets to decide everything and pass all the laws?

I mean, it has been a long run of control and power, spanning thousands of years but I’m wondering if there’s a different future in the making. I also wonder if the very men – older, white, republican/conservative legislators – who so obviously repress while concurrently fearing women, have through iron-fisted abortion legislation, accidentally set the final stage for change?

It would be ironic but in character as my gender, over the course of history, doesn’t have a stellar track record when it comes to making good decisions. In fact, that definition of insanity often characterized as, ‘doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results’ seems to sum it up quite nicely.

You have to look no further than the Middle East and as far back as 1092 and the beginning of the Crusades to see a perfect example of the recurrent use of force and foreign policy, generating the same negative outcomes. It’s been close to 1,000 years and we still don’t get it and worse yet, we’re still fighting.

The same can be said for many other repetitive foreign interventions, disastrous economic policies, criminal planet abuse and numerous other failed “isms” that we’ve invented over the centuries.

It would seem we have some difficulty learning that if you want different results, you have to try different solutions. For a contemporary example of the potential and potency of that kind of thinking, you need look no further than New Zealand’s current Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern.

Prime Minister Ardern, along with others like U.S. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez or Ilhan Abdullahi Omar, are examples of female politicians who are ignoring the old ways and, in the process, beginning to rewrite the book of politics. They are not playing by the rules, especially the rule that requires a female politician to think and act like a male politician.

For these women, a different way of thinking and responding is okay. One example would be P.M. Ardern’s immediate response to the mass shooting in her country when she banned the sale of military assault style weapons in New Zealand.

More recently, Prime Minister Ardern’s latest budget was tabled as a “Wellbeing Budget.” It is the first of its kind and built around a government spending mindset that is focussed on improving social outcomes instead of the traditional GDP-based measurements.

Currently, there is no male politician in North America with the same type of personal conviction or principled beliefs, willing to take a stand similar to Ms. Ardern. We’ve consistently demonstrated that guys don’t ban weapons specifically designed for people killing or implement – not just promise – fiscal policy around words such as wellbeing, mental health or empathy. It’s just not the kind of thing we do. Banning abortions? Yes. Restricting rights? Yes. But banning assault weapons or working for the wellbeing of the electorate? Hell no!

But this column is not about gun control or enhanced national living standards, it is about women having a statistical majority that has to date, not been used to their advantage. I’m not suggesting that every woman run for office. And I’m not saying that all women are smarter or less greedy than men, or in some cases and like some men, even deserve to be in office.

However, there are some new female politicians, role models with new ideas and ways of doing things that don’t fit the centuries old and unworkable mould of business as usual.  And, in my opinion, that is a good thing.

Bill McQuarrie is a former Kamloops entrepreneur who has retired to Vancouver Island where he spends a lot of time fly fishing. He can be contacted at billmcquarrie@gmail.com. He tweets @bafflegabbed.