While the #MeToo movement is shifting the dynamic of who is heard, and potentially believed, when it comes to sexual harassment and assault, the behaviour of elected officials with bad judgment will not magically change overnight.   

Women are at the behest of their parties and peers to negotiate time away from the House or risk being penalized. It's a position no woman relishes and it has to change. 

But political parties and media establishment be warned—many of the elected women we see today won't settle for the usual games, and with greater numbers, can push back. They know their time has come, they are prepared to publicly call out misogyny in all of its forms, and to leave the field much better than they found it.

Premier Notley is not an outlier in Alberta for her commitment to elevating women, but a wonderful embodiment of an enviable tradition in the province of dynamic leaders who have dared to challenge the status quo, and prevailed.

There is, in all this hand-wringing about Hillary Clinton’s re-emergence, a subtext that politics is really for the boys, and girls are only allowed in when they out-perform and ultimately deliver for the (often male-dominated) troops.

Especially given that the House of Commons is only 27 per cent women. More disconcerting, however, as has been widely reported, women comprise a distinct minority on the overwhelming majority of House of Commons committees where policy choices are rigorously debated.

We can’t rely on surprise elections to deliver more women to politics. Women need to be in competitive ridings, and even better, in party strongholds.

Taking that great leap of faith into the electoral arena is crucial for that voice to really count, and to sustaining a vibrant democracy.

Canadians must be unequivocal in insisting that the individual and collective talents among women in this Parliament continue to be fully leveraged.

The dissonance between Canadians’ clear desire to see more women in public life and the treatment women experience as elected officials is extremely troubling.

The Clinton campaign was such an incredibly painful example of how misogyny influences the way in which the contributions of women in politics are understood and regularly diminished.

The latest was directed at International Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland, who confronted accusations of not being a grown-up after Canada’s trade deal with Europe initially faltered.

To ponder it fully, is crazy-making. The first woman running to be U.S. president is up against a man who has used his wealth and power to systematically degrade, debase and, more likely than not, assault a number of women.

All these efforts are enriching the conversation and providing opportunities for women and men both to engage in meaningful discussion on women’s equality—and how to finally get there.

It heard this summer from nearly five times as many men as women.

Relentless social media attacks, an overwhelming workload, and heightened public scrutiny that disproportionately regards the missteps of female politicians as 'personal failings' and reflective of fundamental character flaws are some of the reasons women opt to stay away.

Individual women who are elected should not have to internalize a feeling of vulnerability on the basis of a nefarious Facebook post, verbal threat, or other incident. They absolutely should not be left to deal with it on their own.

The cynical reaction risks reinforcing sexism.

After clinching the nomination this week, Clinton has the potential to change the face of politics in the United States and around the world. But the road to the presidency is still long.

For women watching from the sidelines, now more than ever may be the time to get involved.

Christine Moore and Sophie Grégoire Trudeau are up against long-entrenched structural and gendered norms regarding public expectations of how they—as women—fulfill their responsibilities, whether elected or otherwise.

It's a provocative bill in a country that has never invoked any structural measures to ensure more women stand for office.

NDP Christine Moore is asking that MPs who give birth or become the primary care-giver to an infant be given the capacity to largely work out of the riding for the first six months.

It’s clear that for gender parity to be a reality in the lifetimes of these young women, the work must start now.