Louise Carbert, a political scientist from Dalhousie University, thinks there is an opportunity in this election.

“This next election is crucial because it promises to feature a higher-than-usual turnover rate of incumbents. Many MPs are retiring. Since most incumbent MPs are men, their departure creates more open seats. And open seats present an opportunity for new women candidates coming into the competition.”

Open seats may be opportunities, but following the international precedent, more dramatic reforms may be required to aid in the push to equality.

Both the Liberals and NDP would look to electoral reforms including versions of proportional representation if they form government.

According to Dahlerup, proportional representation fosters gender equality and makes it easier to enforce quota policies. Parties can then compile candidate lists and ensure that they are gender equal.

“When you earn your place at the table, you're respected and your views are respected.” Dr. Kellie Leitch, Member of Parliament

In Sweden, for example, this is achieved through alternating the gender of each successive candidate.

In the aforementioned Bolivian election, there was a proviso that women would be slotted first, thereby ensuring representation in the instance of a party with only one seat.

“In many old democracies you have a resistance to any kind of special treatment or a quota system,” said Dahlerup.

Dahlerup has also observed the effectiveness of gender quota systems. Some variations include going as far as sanctioning a party in the event that it does not diversify its candidate list to a predetermined mark, as is the case in France.

Kellie Leitch, the current minister on the status of women, takes the Conservative Party position that quotas are not the answer.

“When you earn your place at the table, you're respected and your views are respected. When you're the [quota] number you're put at the table… and therefore your voice is not heard.”

While other parties are more open to setting goals to encourage diversity, quota wariness is not unique to the Conservative Party. The NDP and Liberal Party opt to set targets for women candidates without enforcing quotas.

“It is interesting how similar the arguments are all over the world. If everything is fair in society, then of course gender quotas would be a violation of the liberal democracy,” said Dahlerup.

“You have to ask the question: how qualified are the men who sit in 80 per cent of these seats? Are they there by merit? Also is politics not about representation rather than merit?

“It is very seldom that parties have been rejected [for not meeting quota standards] and that is interesting. When they are forced, they find the women.”

Another system Dahlerup suggested, while radical, may be more effective in a first-past-the-post system. It would involve a dual-member system wherein each riding would elect one man and one woman to the legislature in each district.

Former Canadian prime minister Kim Campbell has proposed a similar system in several speeches and made headlines last year with the concept.

Campbell also noted that it would achieve gender equality while eliminating the stigma of quotas.