Interview by Margaret Ahlers, 2005
Discussions on getting more women into politics
tend to attack the challenge backwards, says the politically-savvy Pat
McCraw. ”There is too much emphasis on the negative in terms of obstacles
women face, such as children,” Pat says.
“What we’ve done takes longer. But it was
the first step to provide the climate that became more accepting of women.”
Pat is talking about the Guelph club’s Civic
Affairs group, which has run non-stop for over 40 years. As part of the
original team, spear-headed by Eileen Hammill, Pat has no doubt it was that
gathering of women who created a unique climate where there is
“no longer any question that women will run in Guelph.”
Early members of Civic Affairs who ran for
Guelph City Council – and won – were: Margaret MacKinnon; Anne Godfrey; Linda
Lennon; and Clara Marett.
Prior to that female invasion, council had
been pretty much an Old Boys’ Club, according to Pat. Even getting women
onto city boards and commissions was a formidable challenge. Those bodies
enjoyed 10-year terms, a condition that people like Pat helped
eliminate.
The almost-50-year member of the Guelph club
recalls that Civic Affairs began with the objective of getting to know what
was happening at City Hall. This was an era before meetings were broadcast
on radio. The only way to find out was to attend council
meetings.
“As we learned more about how Council worked
and as issues came up, we learned how to write letters and make presentations.”
Eventually, there were club members willing
to leave the sidelines and take the plunge.
Pat believes that organizations with fairly-balanced
gender representation work better. She points to the current City Council
as an example, where women bring their “broader perspective,” honed by workplace
experience and a commitment to social justice. “Things
get considered that wouldn’t, otherwise,” Pat says.
(For a detailed look at Pat’s own accomplishments,
check out the profile written by Elizabeth Fisk in Ahead of Her Time. This
is a soft-spoken individual with a huge appetite for good works, including
the presidency of the national board for Save the Children Canada .)
Pat surveys today’s political scene in Guelph
with satisfaction. She has great admiration for Mayor Karen Farbridge,
councillors Maggie Laidlaw and Gloria Kovach, MPP Liz Sandals and MP Brenda
Chamberlain. She predicts that rookie councillor Leanne Piper
has what it takes to go far.
While no one is arguing that it’s easy for
women to get into politics today, Pat emphasizes that it’s no piece of cake
for men either.
Anyone making the decision has to put the
existing career “in storage”.
Another
personal campaign which Pat continues to wage is her effort to get more
women onto corporate boards. She found being a public member on the Ontario
College of Pharmacists board an “extremely interesting and rewarding” six-year
experience.
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After almost half a century with the Guelph club, Pat can identify
a few clear shifts. Demographics of members now show “more considerably-older
women”. Today’s busy women juggling careers and families make it harder
to recruit for leadership positions.
She also suspects the club does not mirror the community as well as
it did in the early days. “I am not sure we reflect the diversity, particularly
with (women employed by) the university.”
A basic need for female friendship probably explains why the club
has endured, Pat says. And the wisdom to mix newer and more seasoned members
on the executive avoids domination by a clique.
Editor’s note : Pat McCraw’s passion and dedication brought
awareness to CFUW Guelph of the need to encourage Canada to ratify the
United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989), because it
was in danger of not being ratified by our government. Ratification by
a country meant accepting the convention and abiding by it.
Because of her efforts, CFUW Guelph formulated a resolution on The
Rights of the Child to be taken to the CFUW AGM in 1991, where it was passed
and made part of CFUW Policy:
Rights of the Child (1991, CFUW)
CFUW Guelph (Ontario)
RESOLVED, That the Canadian Federation of University Women (CFUW)
endorse the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and urge
the Governments of the Provinces and Territories to provide the required
unanimous consent in order that the Government of Canada be in a position
to ratify the Convention by the end of 1991; and
RESOLVED, That CFUW support the World Declaration on the Survival,
Protection and Development of Children and the Plan of Action for implementing
same in the 1990's and communicate this support to the federal, provincial
and territorial governments with special emphasis on those areas which specifically
pertain to established CFUW resolutions and policies.
Link to the United Nations: http://www.unicef.org/crc/
Chapters all across the country took this policy to their federal
politicians and contributed to Canada ’s ratifying the Convention in December
1991.
IFUW also picked up the resolution and subsequently passed it there
as well, so that it is now a part of IFUW Official Policy as of 1992:
(1992 No. 18)
Rights of the Child
Encourage National and Federal Associations (NFAs ) to urge their
respective governments to:
1) ratify and implement the UNGA Convention on the Rights of the Child
as adopted in 1989, now both the international law and the international
standard for the protection and care of every child;
2) support the World Declaration on the Survival, Protection and Development
of Children; and
3) work towards implementing its Plan of Action as proposed for the
1990s with special emphasis on its priorities for the Girl Child.
http://www.ifuw.org/
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