Govern Like a Girl: The Women Who Became Canada’s First Ministers

Govern Like a Girl: The Women Who Became Canada’s First Ministers tells the stories of the women who have reached the top jobs in our provincial or federal governments. As girls, none of these women-none!-set out to be the premier or prime minister. Instead, these girls focused on solving the problems and injustices that they saw around them. Eva Aariak wanted her small community’s Zamboni driver to clear the ice in Arctic Bay to give kids a place to play sports. Catherine Callbeck wanted to prove that girls could become successful businesspeople. Kathleen Wynne believed that girls should be able to wear pants to school if they want to. These girls pushed for the changes they wanted to see, and, when they did, change happened.

Kate Graham’s Govern Like A Girl is the latest title in a slew of recent mainstream juvenile nonfiction books which, in an easily readable format, embrace and promote diversity and women’s rights. Graham’s contribution to the genre focuses on women who rose despite adversity and/or challenge to become Canada’s first female ministers. The women featured include Caroline Cochrane who, in 2019, overcame her origins as a teenager living on the street to become one of two female premiers of the Northwest Territories, a territory that doesn’t have political parties. In contrast, Catherine Callbeck came from a life of privilege on Prince Edward Island and rose to the role of premier, ultimately responsible for the installation of the bridge connecting the island to New Brunswick in 1997. Christy Clark became the longest serving female first minister in Canada, serving British Columbia for eight years. Pat Duncan, a high achiever often mistaken for a man due to her first name, served as Yukon’s premier from 2000 to 2002 and is now a member of the Canadian Senate. Kathy Dunderdale, one of 11 children raised in the fishing community of Burin, Newfoundland, found her political voice successfully campaigning to keep the local fishery open. Sexism that Kathy experienced throughout her life fueled her quest to rise in politics and make lasting change. A total of 13 women are featured, including Rita Johnston, the first female premier in Canada, and Kim Campbell, Canada’s first female prime minister. An opening full page map of Canada places a head and shoulders drawing of each of the premiers atop the province or territory which the woman led while Prime Minister Kim Campbell is shown adjacent to the whole country.

Govern Like A Girl is a great addition to Canadian history and education collections as well as an engaging resource for women’s studies. The text is easily accessible, the sidebars featuring each person’s historical statistics are useful for quick research projects, and the appealing comic style portraits will appeal to young readers. The book features a 10 page glossary of terms, such as “incumbent”, “riding”, and “senate”, as well as an address to young girls to become involved and make change (excerpted above). The author’s final page speaks directly to today’s young women:

You can show up.

You can step up.

You can speak up.

You can govern like a girl.

While publishing in full colour, as opposed to the muted duotone, and including online resources would have added to this book’s appeal to young readers, this Canada-centric title will be a valuable resource in school and classroom libraries that are often heavy on titles featuring American females and historic figures.