1 in 4 women in Quebec's National Assembly aren't seeking re-election. What happened?

The night she was elected in October 2018, Catherine Dorion ran up onto the stage in Quebec City and briefly stared at the crowd, shaking her fists in the air and laughing with tears in her eyes. 

"I'm not the one who won in Taschereau, we did. It's everyone who is here and it's everyone in Taschereau!" she said in her victory speech. 

She wore a black tuque and a cropped pink t-shirt with three white flamingos on it. The campaign signs intentionally placed inside the venue were grafittied, including one that featured a defaced portrait of Dorion.

Throughout her four years as a member of Quebec's National Assembly for the democratic-socialist Québec Solidaire, Dorion often spoke about wanting to be close to her constituents, who live in Quebec City's La Cité-Limoulou borough and the town of Notre-Dame-des-Anges. 

In the legislature's Salon bleu full of suits and crew cuts, Dorion's roughly chopped strawberry blond hair stood out. So did her thick Quebec City accent — even if it matches the way the people of her riding speak.

Her clothes (in no particular order: a hoodie, Doc Martens boots, a short skirt, a graphic tee) stoked controversy and sparked debates about dress codes. She defended them, saying she wanted the National Assembly to be a more inclusive place.

The 2018 provincial election that saw Dorion elected was one which a record number of Quebec women made their way to the National Assembly. They represented 52 of the province's 125 seats. Since then, thanks to byelections, there are three more women occupying those seats, for a total of 55, about 44 per cent.

But already, 14 of them have announced they will not be running again in this year's provincial elections. Five of the women leaving hold seats for the governing party, Coalition Avenir Québec, nine for the Official Opposition Quebec Liberal Party, one for the Parti Québécois and one for Québec Solidaire. 

Just Friday, Paule Robitaille, the Liberal MNA for Bourassa-Sauvé in Montreal, said she would be leaving, too, after just one term.

In all, one in four women elected in the National Assembly will leave public office this year. The number of men who have announced their departure pales in comparison at four out of 70, with three departing from the Liberal Party and one from the CAQ.

After that historic 2018 provincial election for women politicians, some worry the 2022 Quebec provincial election could be a step back — and they wonder whether the lack of change in the culture of politics could be to blame.

"For us, for women, it's constant: there are always setbacks," said Esther Lapointe, the director of Groupe Femmes, Politique et Démocratie. "Look at what is happening the United States," she added, referring to the potential overturning of Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 decision legalizing abortion.

Lapointe's group is a nonpartisan organization that has, every year since 2016, proposed a parity bill at the National Assembly that would ensure 40 to 60 per cent of party candidates be women. The group was inspired by Quebec suffragettes who requested the right of women to vote every year for 14 years until it was achieved in 1940.

"It would help prevent setbacks and women could feel more legitimate in running for office," Lapointe said of a parity law.