There might only be one woman’s voice at the Brantford council table later this year.
One-term councillor Jennifer Kinneman has decided not to run again, unable to juggle a full-time job, a young family and an almost full-time workload from being a councillor. It’s a juggling act that would be tough for anyone, male or female. Kinneman indicated she would be doing a disservice to voters if she couldn’t devote her energies to her elected job.
Unless another woman is able to break through the glass ceiling and get elected this October, only veteran councillor Marguerite Ceschi-Smith will be left to break up the din of male voices around council chambers.
At this point, just a couple weeks into the nomination period, several women have stepped up to run for council seats. But it will take a particularly high-profile candidate and/or a groundswell of support for one of them to grab a seat.
Brantford isn’t alone in struggling to find really strong female candidates and then to have them elected. Many communities have this problem (as an earlier blog post indicated).
Last October, Toronto Mayor David Miller and the city’s 10 women councillors threw their support behind a project called Toronto Regional Champion Campaign.
The project, designed to encourage women to get involved in municipal politics, teams 16 young women with the women councillors to give them first-hand experience in the workings of city government.
It’s a great idea to expose interested women to municipal politics. Hopefully, some will end up running in October’s election or in future elections.
Such a mentorship idea would be good to see in other municipalities.
Hamilton’s city council is also lacking females in a big way. Toronto’s program is a great idea and I hope it catches on in other municipalities. I think it would help if council positions paid enough to drop your other job during your term of office.