Following significant increases in women’s electoral representation in the 1980s and '90s, progress has stalled. Despite some high-profile successes at the provincial level, there are now only a few more women in Canada’s parliament and legislatures than a decade ago. What has happened to the representational gains for women and why does gender parity remain so elusive?

To answer these questions, Stalled provides a provides a detailed roadmap of women’s political representation as candidates, office-holders, cabinet ministers, party leaders, and as representatives of the Crown at all levels of government across Canada. Prospects for gender parity in political office are assessed in each jurisdiction and institution. Explanations are re-examined and analyzed using data from across the country.

The representation of women in elected and appointed offices is an important indicator of both gender equality and the overall health of democratic governance. By this measure Canada continues to fall short.

Linda Trimble is a professor in the Department of Political Science, University of Alberta. She is the co-editor of two collections on women and political representation in Canada as well as a volume on the changing nature of Canadian politics in the twenty-first century.

Linda Trimble's profile page

Jane Arscott is an Assistant Professor at Athabasca University. With Linda Trimble she co-edited In the Presence of Women: Representation in Canadian Governments and has published articles and chapters on feminist political theory, and the history of political thought. She is currently working on a book about the Royal Commission on the Status of Women.

Jane Arscott's profile page

Manon Tremblay is professor of political science at the University of Ottawa.

Manon Tremblay's profile page

• Commended, The Hill Times List of Top 100 Best Books for 2013

This book is a must-read for people interested in Canadian history, gender, and electoral politics in Canada. I cannot say enough about Stalled: The Representation of Women in Canadian Govenrments, which includes chapters written by well-known scholars, features a strong cross-section of expertise in Canadian political science, covers virtually every province and territory, and contains the different constituent groups within a Canadian context ... Well written and appropriate for lay and academic audiences, Stalled is the perfect addition to classes in gender and politics, to upperdivision courses in comparative politics focused on the status of 'women and politics, and to Canadian history courses.

BC Studies, Spring 2015