Women Now Represent 30% of the PEI Legislature

Tayte Willows Wins District 16 Cornwall-Meadowbank By-election

Wednesday, July 22, 2026

This matters because 30% represents the minimum threshold determined by the United Nations for representation and has never been reached in PEI until now.

The PEI Coalition for Women’s Leadership congratulates Tayte Willows for being the 38th woman elected as a member of the legislative assembly of Prince Edward Island. Willows winning the District 16 Cornwall-Meadowbank byelection pushes the number of women represented in the provincial legislature from 26% to 30%. This represents the minimum threshold determined by the United Nations for representation and has never been reached in PEI until now.

  • The PEI Legislature has been governing since 1873 and voters elected the first woman member, Jean Canfield, in 1970. There have been 1254 elected representatives in total during that time. 
  • Despite the increase following Monday’s byelection, PEI remains in 11th place for gender representation across Canadian provinces and Territories. The Yukon leads with 57% of women represented and British Columbia with 52.7%. 
  • PEI is tied with the House of Commons with 30% women representatives.
  • Currently, Canada ranks 72nd place according to the Inter-Parliamentary Union's monthly ranking of the percentage of women in national parliaments. The top 5 countries with 50% or more women in parliament are Rwanda, Cuba, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Bolivia.

​​​The 2025 Coalition project Charting Progress: Comparing Women’s Political Participation 20 Years Later asked women candidates to identify persistent and new barriers to women’s political participation. The project report identified a number of improvements and barriers.

  • Improvements
  • Women are approached more often to run
  • More women are involved in Party recruitment processes
  • A record number of women and gender diverse candidates ran in the 2023 provincial election (52 of the 119 candidates were women, or 44%)

 

  • Persistent Barriers
  • Disproportionate burden of unpaid care expectations
  • Lack of established networks of support
  • Sexist beliefs and behaviours against women in the political sphere
  • Violence against women candidates and elected officials

 

  • New Barriers
  • Increasing polarization in the political climate
  • Lack of support for racialized candidates
  • Negative consequences for future career and economic prospects
  • Limited and intimidating civic education gaps
  • Increased public scrutiny and threats of violence via social media