Quebec Women and the Decline of the Liberal Party

• In Event: Unintended Consequences of Reforms for Gender Equality

Abstract

By 1930, women had obtained the right to vote in national elections within more than 30 countries, among others in Canada. However, in Quebec—a Catholic, French-speaking province of Canada—the government held back subnational voting rights until 1940. Qualitative accounts of the province’s delay and eventual extension of suffrage point to the political incentives faced by the Quebec Liberal Party. After 39 years of near-continuous hold on power, the Liberals’ ouster in 1936 prompted the party to attempt to stave of their demise by giving women the vote. Was their bet successful? Using census data and constituency-level provincial electoral results from 1936 to 1944, we demonstrate that the introduction of female voters increased support for the Liberal Party and decreased support for third parties during the 1944 provincial elections. We also find that while women’s votes aided the party in 1944, the electoral geography of the reform meant that women’s support was not enough to stem the anti-Liberal tide. In light of these results, we make the case that studying variations across subnational territorial units in federations offers unique opportunities to test theories of enfranchisement.

Authors

• Evelyne Brie, University of Pennsylvania

• Dawn L. Teele, University of Pennsylvania