City council cannot force diversity on the electorate
Where a candidate stands on issues is what matters, not either ethnicity or gender
City council can pass all the motions it wants to about gender equity and diversity, but that can’t, and shouldn’t, change the civic election process.
On Monday, council passed a motion in favour of more gender equity and diversity on city boards, committees and on council itself. It’s one thing to want to increase the number of women and minorities as appointees to various civic commissions and the like, but it’s quite another to include council itself in such a motion.
Coun. Gian-Carlo Carra introduced the motion, noting, “Gender equity is good for society.” No argument with that. Where things get murky, however, is with Carra’s followup comment.
“If you look around this council chamber, you will note the faces at this table do not reflect the faces of Calgary at large. That’s both about gender equity and that’s about diversity,” he said.
Actually, the faces around the council table do reflect those of Calgary at large. Why? Because they represent the views of the Calgarians who elected them. Getting elected is not about skin colour, race or religion. It’s about where a candidate stands on the issues. Carra’s statement seems to me to reflect the exasperating idea that if a woman or member of a minority sits on council, that individual represents the views of all women and all members of that particular minority.
Women do not all think alike, so unless a woman running for council from my ward best represents my views on the issues above all the other candidates, I’m not going to vote for her. Nor do all the members of a given minority think alike; minorities are not homogeneous blocs.
To suggest a variety of “faces” are needed around the council table is pure tokenism. We don’t assume white male faces represent people who all think alike on the issues, so why would we assume differently for any other group in society?
You may welcome the green cart to your neighbourhood or you may be totally opposed to it. You may think the Big Blue Ring is art, or you may hate it. These are civic issues that have nothing to do with being a woman or a member of a minority, and everything to do with how individuals think, regardless of colour or gender.
This notion about monolithic ideology is akin to the equally exasperating idea that there are “leaders” or “a spokesperson” for minority “communities.” There are none. No elections for such an office are held; no appointments made. The reason? People within any demographic or cultural group hold a whole spectrum of perspectives on things.
Moreover, the only way to get on council is to run for office. That’s an individual choice that anyone in this city is free to make. If they don’t choose to, they should not be led by the hand or subjected to outreach efforts to encourage them to do so. That merely infantilizes mature, thinking individuals who don’t need to be condescended to by unnecessarily guilt-ridden white males.
People choose not to run for council for many reasons. Maybe they have no desire to enter politics. Maybe they don’t want to sit through lengthy council meetings because their time is taken up with other things they’d rather do. Maybe the idea of dealing with constituents campaigning for a crosswalk or upset about some other issue of urban life doesn’t appeal to them. Maybe women feel strongly that they don’t want to sacrifice time with their children, because they believe that in 20 years, it won’t matter that they sat dutifully through some zoning meeting, but it will matter how their children turn out.
Run for office if you like, even if you’re a white male. All that matters is where you stand on the issues. If we then end up with a gender or diversity imbalance on council, so be it. That’s democracy.