For years, the Parti Quebecois has had a problem with women. We are less inclined than men to vote for the PQ, less inclined to vote Yes to sovereignty and less approving of PQ leaders. The gender gap is so severe for the PQ that on referendum night 1995, Jacques Parizeau could have blamed the Yes-side loss on francophone women rather than on money and ethnics. Lucien Bouchard isn't any better off.
Recent polls suggest the gap, if anything, is widening between francophone men and women.
A CROP poll last week showed that 64 per cent of men were satisfied with Bouchard compared with 46 per cent of women. There is good reason for women not to like the PQ as much as men do. And it goes beyond the fact that the Bouchard government, like so many others, comes across as an old-boys' club with room for only token women. It goes beyond the fact that the PQ's sovereignty option divides Quebecers and promotes conflict and uncertainty - things women everywhere don't appreciate. For starters, the PQ has even fewer woman candidates than it had in either of the last two elections.