Liberals talk women in politics
At a luncheon dealing with women in leadership and politics organized by the Newfoundland and Labrador Liberal Party, former St. John’s Mayor Shannie Duff said she was the second woman ever to be elected to city council.
“When I first wanted to go into politics, I didn’t do it because I was a woman and I was raising the woman flag, I did it because I was totally poisoned by the way city council was operating,” Duff said.
In her life, Duff said, mentorship has been important — seeking advice from more politically experienced people and, in turn, offering it to younger people.
She said when she started out, a lot of the people she was looking to for advice were men.
“If a woman wants to get involved in politics, there is nothing wrong with reaching out to the people who have the experience and the ability, and oftentimes they may be men, because men have more experience in politic,” she said. “Mentoring is not gender-specific.”
Mentoring was a big theme of the panel discussion, moderated by Liberal MHA Cathy Bennett.
Tim Fahey, an assurance partner with Grant Thornton, talked about his company’s efforts to boost the number of women in leadership positions through mentoring.
He said that as a consequence of the company’s work, women have made up 45 per cent of the people advancing to partner at Grant Thornton in the past two years.
“Everyone can have a coach, everyone can have a mentor,” he said. “As leaders, you need to be champion for someone. So if you want to implement change, find a person you think you can champion, and push that person along.”
Liberal Leader Dwight Ball said increasing the number of women involved in the party is a priority.
In the House of Assembly right now, only six of the 48 MHAs are women.
“Not until we fully understand the issues can we best work at finding what the solutions are,” he said. “Needless to say, right now women in Newfoundland and Labrador are underrepresented in politics and leadership roles.”
“If a woman wants to get involved in politics, there is nothing wrong with reaching out to the people who have the experience and the ability.” Shannie Duff Former St. John’s Mayor