Number of women in politics doesn’t add up
Campaign encouraging more women to run for municipal office
Half of the population is female.
But only a quarter of elected officials in Alberta are women.
The province’s Minister for the Status of Women wants to see that change.
“Our populations are diverse,” said Stephanie McLean Thursday evening at the University of Lethbridge’s Students’ Union Ballroom.
“If we have all doctors on a city council, you can imagine that the results are going to biased in a certain way. Biases aren’t always bad, but they do change how we view the world. Different experiences of the world will result in different questions asked; will result in different policy being developed. When we have a homogenous group on council, you’re really only going to get one type of perspective. That’s going to be reflected in your policy.”
McLean was in the city for the fourth and final stop of the #ReadyForHer campaign, which was designed to encourage more women to seek municipal office.
McLean, also MLA for CalgaryVarsity, led a panel — moderated by Melissa Villeneuve, The Herald’s assistant city editor — with Lethbridge city councillor Liz Iwaskiw and Maryanne Sandberg, councillor for the MD of Willow Creek.
“There seems to be a large appetite across the province for a concerted effort to get more women to run,” McLean said.
“Statistics show us; anecdotes show us; qualitative research shows us — women face a number of barriers to running. It’s about that step beforehand; it’s about getting women to put themselves on the ballot.”
“I think increasing the number of women is going to make a difference, but I also think society needs to pay attention to the fact that if women are half of the population, why are they not half of everything?” Iwaskiw said. “It’s really simple.”
There is less than a year until Alberta’s next municipal election. In 2013, during the last municipal election, only 26 per cent of women were voted into office. In Edmonton, women comprised one of 13 positions (eight per cent), in Calgary, two of 15 positions (13 per cent), and in Medicine Hat, there was two women of nine positions (22 per cent).
In Lethbridge, two of the nine city council positions, Iwaskiw and Bridget Mearns, are filled by women — also 22 per cent. Only eight of the 29 people who ran for council in Lethbridge in 2013 were women.
“That’s not enough,” Iwaskiw said. “I would just like people to sit up and pay more attention across the board.”
Both McLean and Iwaskiw, despite not necessarily agreeing with her politics, said that having Hillary Clinton elected as the first female President of the United States would be a huge step forward.
“It’s so important that a woman, finally in the whole history of America, be in that leadership position,” McLean said. “It will mean a lot for children, in particular, because little girls will be able to see themselves as the next President of the United States.”
“I’m excited,” Iwaskiw said. “I think more women are going to step up — and I hope they do.”