I am thrilled about Justin Trudeau’s new cabinet. Not only is it dubbed as the most diverse cabinet Canada has ever had, it is also has half of the Ministers as women and the other half as men. Why is this exciting you might ask?
Canada is a land of immigrants, many of whose ancestries can be traced back to other continents. Yet, in the past, the Canadian cabinet has not mirrored the myriad of Canadian cultures. Because finally Canada’s cabinet is representative of this very diverse nation. Trudeau’s cabinet includes a paralympian, a refugee who fled afghan, South- East Asian-Canadians and some aboriginal ministers.
There is another very important issue at hand here. 15 out of the 30 cabinet ministers are women. This should be good news right ? Yes! Yes!However a news presenters ask Trudeau why he made this decision? His response is beautiful! “Because it’s 2015” then shrugs his shoulders.
The news reporter’s question reinforced the fact that feminism is still a very relevant movement.Why is it okay to have a cabinet that is full of men? Why is it so concerning to these news stations that Trudeau decided to have a lot more women on board ? Why does the Prime Minister have to justify the increasing number of women he appointed to his cabinet ?
Rather than focusing on the credentials of the ministers, the media is fixated on their gender. “Because it’s 2015,” we have to move away from a gender biased society. A society where a woman has to work twice as hard as a man just to get to the same position . A society where one is questioned when he decides that half the cabinet should be women.
Because it’s 2015 we should not be surprised that women are taking positions in high places. Because it’s 2015, the Canadian cabinet can and has achieved some sort of gender parity.
References :
www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZbtCsoGJBI
