Joanna Everitt

Dr. Joanna Everitt is a Professor of Political Science and a former president of the Canadian Political Science Association. At UNB she has served as the Director of the UNB Urban and Community Studies Institute (2018-21), the Dean of Arts at UNB Saint John (2008-2018) and as chair of the Department of History and Politics (2006-08).

She has been a Visiting Fellow with the Electoral Integrity Project run out of Queen’s University and the University of West Anglia (2022), at the University of Exeter Q-Step Centre (2019), The McGill Centre for the Study of Democratic Citizenship (2018), Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government (2013) and the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada (2004).

She received her M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Toronto, and her BA from Carleton University. She joined the Department of History & Politics at the University of New Brunswick – Saint John in 1997. In 2018 she was awarded the Senior Women Academic Administrators of Canada (SWAAC) Angela Hildyard Recognition Award for innovative leadership and outstanding contributions to her institution and in 2007 she was awarded the Allan P. Stuart Award for Excellence in Teaching. In July 2022, her research was recognized through her appointment as a UNB University Research Scholar (2022-2024).

Joanna Everitt specializes in Canadian politics, gender and identity politics, and political behaviour. Her research specifically examines how gender and other identities affect political engagement, public opinion, and political success (including opportunities to run for elected office, media coverage and leadership evaluations) of political elites.

She was the lead investigator for the 2020 and 2014 New Brunswick Election Study and was part of the team of scholars that produced the 2004, 2006 and 2008 Canadian Election Studies. She is currently the PI for a 5 year SSHRC Insight Grant to examine the impact of candidate affinity on voter political engagement in Canadian federal elections with a focus on women, LGBTQ, Indigenous and racialized individuals.

Along with six co-authored and co-edited books, she has published nearly 60 articles in national and international journals and edited collections.

Books

Palgrave Handbook of Gender, Sexuality and Politics in Canada, co-edited with Manon Tremblay. Palgrave McMillian Press. 2020.

Gendered Mediation: Identity and Image Making in Canadian Politics. Co-edited with Angelia Wagner. Vancouver: UBC Press. 2019.

The Blueprint: Conservative parties and their impact on Canadian politics, co-edited with J.P. Lewis. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. 2017.

Dominance and Decline: Making Sense of Recent Canadian Elections, co-authored with Elisabeth Gidengil, Neil Nevitte, André Blais and Patrick Fournier. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2012.

Advocacy Groups: The Canadian Democratic Audit, co-authored with Lisa Young, University of British Columbia Press. 2004.

Citizen Politics: Research and theory in Canadian political behaviour, co-edited with Brenda O’Neill, Oxford University Press, 2002.

Recent articles and book chapters

“Representing Women in New Brunswick: Slowly entering the 21st Century” The Higgs Years: Leading and Dividing New Brunswick. Gabriel Arseneault ed. McGill-Queens University Press. Forthcoming.

“Lavender Elections: LGBTQ2+ candidates and voters in Canadian Elections” with Angelia Wagner in Elections in Canada: People, Players, and Processes. Tamara Small and Royce Koop, eds. McGill-Queens University Press. Forthcoming.

Holding Back the Race Card: Black Candidates, Twitter, and the 2021 Canadian Election” with Angelia Wagner, Karen Bird, and Mireille Lalancette. 2023. “Journal of Race Ethnicity and Politics. 2023. 8(2):164-181.

“Are Openly LGBTQ2+ the New Sacrificial Lambs? Campaign Contexts and the Gendered Implications for LGBTQ2+ Candidates” with Manon Tremblay. 2023. Canadian Journal of Political Science. 2023. 56 (2), 300-324 (shortlisted for the 2024 CPSA John McMenemy Prize, best CJPS paper in the previous year).

“Identity Marketing and Campaigning during the 2021 Canadian electoral campaign.” With Mireille Lalancette, Angelia Wagner and Karen Bird in Political Marketing in the 2021 Canadian Election eds. Jamie Gillies, Vincent Raynauld and André Turcotte Palgrave McMillian Press. 2023. 133-154.

“The Origins of Financial Incentives for Women: The Case of New Brunswick, Canada” with Quinn Albaugh. European Journal of Gender and Politics. 2022. 5:1, 127-144.

“Academic absences, disciplinary siloes and methodological prejudices within the Political Science Discipline in Canada” Canadian Journal of Political Science. 2021. 54(4), 749-768.

“Public Attitudes and Private Prejudices: Assessing Voters’ Willingness to Vote for Lesbian and Gay Candidates” with Laszlo Horvath Frontiers in Political Science 3, 72: 2021.

“Executives in Canada: Adding Gender and Sexuality to their Representational Mandate” with J.P. Lewis, in Manon Tremblay and Joanna Everitt eds. Palgrave Handbook of Gender, Sexuality and Politics in Canada. Palgrave McMillian Press, 2020.

“LGBT candidates and elected officials in North America” with Manon Tremblay in Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Politics Oxford University Press, 2020.

"Winning as a Woman/Winning as a Lesbian: Kathleen Wynne and the 2014 Ontario Election” with Tracy Raney in Manon Tremblay ed. LGBT People and Electoral Politics in Canada. Vancouver: UBC Press. 2019.

"Pathway to Office: The Eligibility, Recruitment, Selection, and Election of LGBT Candidates" with Manon Tremblay and Angelia Wagner. in Manon Tremblay ed. LGBT People and Electoral Politics in Canada. Vancouver: UBC Press. 2019.

"Exploring viewer reactions to media coverage of female politicians” with Lisa Best and Derek Gaudet in Angelia Wagner and Joanna Everitt eds., Gendered Mediation: Identity and Image Making in Canadian Politics. 2019.

“Using electoral reform discussions to enhance women’s political representation: Steps in the right direction” Journal of New Brunswick Studies/ Revue d’études sur le Nouveau-Brunswick. 2018, Vol 9, 41-45.

“Exploring viewer reactions to media coverage of female politicians” with Lisa Best and Derek Gaudet in Angelia Wagner and Joanna Everitt eds., Gendered Mediation: Identity and Image Making in Canadian Politics. Vancouver: UBC Press. 2019.

“Candidate Gender, Behavioral Style, and Willingness to Vote: Support for Female Candidates Depends on Conformity to Gender Norms” with Lisa Best and Derek Gaudet American Behavioural Scientist. 2016, 60:14, 1737-1755.

“Testing the Themes in the New Brunswick Voting Behaviour Literature: An Analysis of the 2014 Provincial Election Study” with Joseph Sanford. International Journal of Canadian Studies, 2016, 53, 25-42

“Where are the Women in Canadian Political Parties” in Alan Gagnon and Brian Tanguay eds., Canadian Parties in Transition, 4th edition, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2016. 296-315.

“LGBT Activism in the 2015 Federal Election” in Alex Marland and Thierry Giasson eds. Canadian Election Analysis 2015: Communication, Strategy, and Canadian Democracy Samara/UBC Press, 2015.

“Gender and Sexual Diversity in Provincial Election Campaigns” Canadian Political Science Review. 9:1, 2015, 177-192.

"Mobilization on the Periphery: LGBT Activism and Success in Atlantic Canada" in Manon Trembley and Miriam Smith eds. Queer Movements and Public Policy: Pan-Canadian Perspectives Vancouver: UBC Press, 2015, 125-141.

“In Versus Out: LGB Politicians in Canada” with Michael Camp. Journal of Canadian Studies 48:1, 2014, 226-251.