Diversity needed in city council candidates

Shortly after she was elected as a Town Ward councillor in 2018, Kemi Akapo boldly predicted that two elections down the road most of the council members could be women.

If that comes true, Akapo won’t be among them. Registration for October’s municipal election opened this week and she is not running for a second term. Otonabee Ward’s Kim Zippel, another of four women elected in 2018, is not running either and will be a one-term councillor.

Neither is Mayor Diane Therrien, who had one term as a councillor and is serving her first, and likely last, term as mayor.

Among the four women who prompted Akapo’s comment, only Lesley Parnell, a veteran Otonabee Ward councillor, is running again.

If that were just coincidence it wouldn’t be a concern. However, all three have referred to the extra intensity of public abuse directed at women in office. Zippel has also been outspoken about her belief the male councillors don’t work co-operatively with women and the political culture is unproductively competitive.

Akapo is the most visible member of the most diverse council in Peterborough’s history. The four women are as many as have ever served together and she and Northcrest Ward’s Stephen Wright are the first Black councillors elected here.

If minority and female candidates run, city voters are willing to elect them. But the experience of watching this council might cause them to think twice, or more than twice.

Therrien, Akapo and Zippel have all to some extent decided not to run because of the way they were treated. All three also say they will work to convince more women to run.

That conundrum is in large part a result of the daily grind of politics and the difficulty of getting anything done, combined with 24-7 social media outlets where anonymous trolls and bullies can practise their grinding tactics on any target.

Women and minorities get a bigger share of the mindless abuse and threats than do white males, something all three women and Wright refer to.

It has not entirely driven the women away, but it’s a factor.

Akapo would like to go to graduate school and focus on her career. Zippel believes she can accomplish more as an individual than within the political arena, but hopes women who are more suited to the system will run. Therrien has drawn heavy social media fire, stepped away from council for a period and seems burned out.

Wright is headed in the other direction, running for the highest profile office, but has acknowledged the extra burden women carry. What’s the message in all this?

Maybe that there are personalities best suited to political life, as Zippel said. And certainly that candidates need to think through the reality of trolling and whether, and how, they would deal with it.

One way is to ignore the haters. Another is to go toe-to-toe.

Therrien chose the combative response. She gained a lot of positive feedback from supporters, but inspired the haters to ratchet up even more and in the end it ground her down.

The hope here is that those concerns won’t keep women and minority candidates from running. Peterborough needs the opportunity to elect council members who represent everyone in the community.

If minority and female candidates run, city voters are willing to elect them. But the experience of watching this council might cause them to think twice