Women In Poliltics, Diversity in Society

“If that vitriolic anger that we see directed at women is collected in one place for all of us to get a chance to talk about, I think that’s a major contribution that women in public office will make to our country and to our civic life. Because this happens to women every day in offices, and workplaces all across Canada.”

 

 

Anger is a reactive emotion, as is fear.  Both serve a purpose - to motivate people to respond to threats through either fight or flight.  The problem is, these limbic reactions paint with a pretty broad brush - we will feel equally uncomfortable around someone with a physically manifested contagious disease (like Ebola) as we will around a burn victim.

 

So, we fear things that our reactive brains perceive as threats to our health, safety or ability to promote ourselves - our status.  Even when they're not really threats to begin with.  Even when they might just be opportunities for growth, instead.  The more competitive, combative we are as a society, the more prone we are to potential threat identification, which is basically what stigma is.

 

Women in politics increases the pool of potential competitors in an already narrow field.  If you're hyper-combative, anything that whittles away your odds of getting a seat or, more broadly, a job in general is seen as threatening your chances.  The same applies to laws that make it easier for New Migrants to vote or seek work. 

 

Like any fear, we are only controlled by it so long as we refuse to recognize and confront it.  When we do so, we realize that FDR was right - fear itself, not the thing feared, is the problem.

 

For this reason it was incredibly smart of Kathleen Wynne to confront head-on her gender and sexuality right out of the starting gate.  Consider it a kind of inoculation that helps people get past their fear and instead, focus on solutions to the broader challenges society faces.

 

Which is a non-combative, strategic approach to politics that perhaps plans more than one political generation ahead.  While I agree that it is great that a rising number of women in Canadian politics is giving society cause to address gender prejudices, don't short change women the wealth of other contributions they bring to the table.

 

This isn't the first glass ceiling women have had to break through.  It takes a hell of a lot of persistence and planning to change a society, yet it's continues to happen, doesn't it?

 

Progress is like water that way - one way or another, it'll change the landscape.

Into the Light: The Evolution of the Conscious Society

People accused of crimes have long been allowed to argue their trial was unfair because their lawyer did a lousy job of representing them.

Now, mentally ill Ontarians caught up in legal battles over the right to choose their own medical treatment have the same rights.

This is not an insignificant thing.  Time was, women were thought to be too emotional to make important decisions, like casting votes.  Ethnic minorities were seen to be lesser-thans undeserving of equal social status.  Property ownership was an essential requirement for social participation.  Lefties were stigmatized.  These barriers have largely been broken down, allowing for greater, inclusive diversity and as a result, more innovation, more opportunity and a stronger society that provides a higher quality of life for everyone.

 

Our grey matter is still largely a taboo subject - we don't want to talk about it, though it shapes our every thought, our every action.  The increased focus of government and civil society on mental health (including mental illness, but more broadly the impact of brain function on every facet of our society) is breaking down this wall, too.  Like most major social changes, we will pay attention to the structural transformations ahead, but won't be fully conscious of the shift in societal perception as it happens.

I guarantee we'll be more conscious once it's taken root.